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The great Sunday debate
However much
they might try to distance themselves from the issue, Vince Farrugia and
Chris Grech have undoubtedly emerged as the two main protagonists of the
Sunday shopping debate. Here they both outline their main arguments
GRTU's
Vince Farrugia:
The economic argument
Research in the UK for the period between 1992 and 1998, covering the
first five years of the legalisation of Sunday trading, prove that Sunday
shopping simply does not pay. The report "The Changing Nature of
Sunday" (available from Jubilee House, 3 Hooper Street, Cambridge
CB1, 2NZ) gives these figures:
• 1.3million more men and women 'usually or sometime worked on a
Sunday in 1998 than in 1992 (an increase of 16 per cent), But the latest
research available reveals that only 6.4 per cent of all weekly retail
spending takes place on a Sunday, compared with 20.7 per cent on Saturdays
and 23.3 per cent on Fridays.
• 34 per cent of lone mothers with dependent offspring 'usually or
sometimes work on Sundays, leaving an estimated half a million children
without the company of their parent on that day.
• The changes in Sunday life-style have resulted in the amount of
free time enjoyed by people at the weekend decreasing by 5.3 per cent
while increasing by 26.8 per cent during the week.
• As far back as 1996 the Pay and Benefits Bulletin reported that
half the organisations it has surveyed had revised their contracts of
employment for new starters making Sunday part of the normal week.
• Not only shop workers have been affected by the Sunday Trading
Act 1994 (which allowed supermarkets and stores to open for six hours
on a Sunday). Transport workers, distribution workers, street cleaners
and parking attendants have been drawn into the action.
• As predicted, many shop owners trading for an extra day by a high
proportion of large retailers has contributed to the decline in the number
of smaller shops.
• Another prediction, that Sunday trading would not generate higher
weekly spending but would merely rearrange the same level of expenditure,
has proved to be true.
• While the volume of shopping on a Sunday has steadily increased,
sales and profits have lagged behind. In 1998 the average increase in
sales was a mere 2.58 per cent, the lowest recorded since surveys began
in 1994.
• Very few people carry out their main weekly shopping on a Sunday.
Average expenditure is £28.68 and surveys point to the fact that
most Sunday shopping is aimed at purchasing items forgotten during the
week.
• Sunday opening has encouraged multiple chain stores to expand further.
This has done nothing for competitiveness and has not led to lower prices,
as promised.
These arguments are even more valid for Malta, since the Maltese market
is a closed market. There is no flow of consumers moving in only for the
Sunday. Tourists stay in Malta for an average of nine nights and they
have more than enough time to do their shopping. Furthermore, the Shopping
Hours Act provides all the options necessary so that tourists are served.
The only exception is for groceries since the approach has steadfastly
been to encourage tourists to frequent catering establishments on Sundays,
rather than relying on self-catering.
• Sunday shopping is a field day for part-timers who work elsewhere
during the rest of the week and open shop only on Sundays - thus stealing
the market from underneath the professional retailers' feet who, unable
to sustain a regular seven day week, will eventually close on Sundays.
The argument that retailers may close on another day of the week is not
valid since no retailer abandons his Monday, Tuesday etc customers to
gain Sunday customers. It's not even fair on consumers and it's bad business.
• The argument that shop-owners should be given an option to open
or not is also not valid. The best comparison is a football stadium. Once
the front lines stand up, all other spectators will have to stand up too.
It will happen with Sunday Trading. It is already happening after Bay
Street shops were allowed to open.
• Tax and other law evasion is rampant on Sunday since public sector
employees responsible for such matters as VAT, Income Tax, Licenses, Health
and Safety and consumer protection are not willing to work on Sundays
and the excess cost would not be sanction anyway.
The social argument
The frenetic manner in which people are required to go about their employment
in the year 2001 has a great social cost and those who are suffering really
badly from the demands placed on adults in the work place are the children.
In Malta the only workers and self employed who have their rights for
Sunday rest protected by law are those working in the Retail Trade. While
the European Parliament and other strong pro-family pressure groups are
elsewhere in Europe arguing in favour of a one shared day of rest for
all the family, in Malta pressure is being maintained for the removal
of these rights from those who have it rather than extending this right
to others.
The vast majority of owners of retail outlets large and small do not want
to work on Sunday. Workers may be forced for some time but they would
eventually change jobs. Proprietors would then have to decide whether
to open or abandon. Recent surveys in Italy show that the vast majority
of small retailers regret the decision recently taken by the authorities
to allow Sunday Shopping.
Surveys have shown that the main shopping days in Malta are Friday and
Saturday. The demand for Sunday shopping is being created by interested
parties who are seeking means to sustain their excessive investment in
an already saturated economic sector that enjoys very low return on investment.
The environmental argument
Most shopping centres in Malta are in the city core. Most historic buildings
and sites are also in the city core. Shops are too close to neighbourhoods.
The one-day relief from the noise of shops, with allied issues like parking,
traffic deliveries etc is good for the neighbourhood and the environment.
Surveys in UK city centres prove that without the one-day break, shopping
centre environments suffer a highly disproportional negative effect.
Conclusion
Relationships matter more than money. It is not true that on an island
where shops are everywhere and shopping hours extend from 4.00am to 7.00pm
six days a week, with an option for extension one-day a week for up to
10.00pm that the customer is not being adequately served.
What shop owners and their employees now seek is the comprehension and
solidarity from consumers in protection of their right for a regular shared
day of rest - for them and their family.
Bay
Street's Chris Grech:
The retail industry in Malta must reflect today's way of life and this
should see Sunday depicted as a day of leisure rather than a day of rest,
according to Bay Street chief and self-appointed Sunday trading campaigner,
Chris Grech.
Mr Grech explains that he hopes the Sunday trading battle can be resolved
through compromise, but made it clear he had no qualms about pushing for
a referendum on the issue.
"There have been changes in consumers' needs and no one is providing
them with a voice," he said. "Today the retail, leisure and
entertainment sectors co-exist and our laws need updating to take this
into account."
Asked whether he felt that pushing for a referendum would put him on a
collision course with the government, which has made it clear it Sunday
trading will remain tightly controlled in its planned changes to legislation,
Mr Grech countered that he believed it was healthy for different ideas
and opinions to be discussed.
"The government has a difficult brief, it is not surprising that
it is currently treading carefully," Mr Grech explains. "But
it is important that the public's point of view is relayed. We have been
inundated with thousands of people supporting us - people who want to
be free to choose how to spend their Sunday."
He admits that most people accept the laws, which date back to 1958, need
amending; the delicate issue is just how far to change them.
"Some amendments have been made, but we are still far from what is
needed," he says. "There have been changes in consumers' needs,
with much more emphasis now being placed on leisure, while Malta has also
changed in its bid to attract different niches of tourism. Retail must
reflect these different trends."
Mr Grech, who stresses that he became the Sunday shopping campaigner by
default, but admits he will pursue the battle now that it is underway,
believes the current restrictive laws are damaging.
"If we retain these protection policies it will just hinder things,"
he says. "We have all this talk about liberalisation and globalisation,
yet these antiquated laws are still in place."
"Of course we are willing to compromise," he says. "We
are not saying let's have a seven-day week and we agree with keeping Sunday
special, but we need to discuss the issue of offering services to the
community. While I am sure the GRTU's concerns are very genuine, we do
need to move in the direction that is being taken abroad."
Mr Grech also sees it as very unfair to use the "immoral" issue
in the Sunday trading argument.
"I think this is patronising," he says. "People are fully
capable of deciding how they want to spend their Sundays."
Challenged on whether Sunday opening would force small retailers to have
to open to compete, Mr Grech argues that "nobody is being forced
into anything".
"They can choose whether to open or not," he says. "It
is no different from the current argument, by which the present laws are
dictating that we cannot open. You have to let the market forces decide.
You cannot keep up the protectionist approach which imposes a lifestyle
on the people."
He also believes that the laws need to be sensitive to the needs of the
big investors.
"We can't have these huge new projects and hotel complexes coming
on line and cruisers entering our port, to find no shops open," he
says. "After all, people are investing millions in projects and employing
thousands of people. Can we really expect a venture like the Cottonera
project to function under the current laws?"
And does he accept that his competitors currently have a disadvantage
in the Sunday trading battle, since Bay Street is the only shopping centre
opening?
"What we want is to operate on a completely fair playing field,"
he answers. "We feel that the law is wrong at present and we sympathise
with all the other shops and the citizens."
He stresses that he has been approached by many of these shops and complexes
and has made it clear he will back them.
"We have made a commitment to getting the laws changed and we will
not back down now," he says.
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