Urge government to recognise the rights of workers to attend Sunday public worship and to maintain a weekly day for rest and family time. Emphasise that it is for the benefit of society as a whole that a proper balance between work and home life be encouraged, by legislation where appropriate. Uphold the rights of other religious traditions to reasonable time off work in conjunction with their own religious festivals.
I wonder how many of us enjoy the convenience of shops opening on Sunday’s? Perhaps, on our way home from morning church we pop into the local supermarket or corner shop to buy some fresh bread for lunch, pick up the paper to spend the afternoon reading or get something in for supper. I happen to rather enjoy cosy, lazy, ‘family’ Sunday afternoons, preferably by a nice log fire and I for one usually take it for granted that the paper, the nice food and the milk for my tea will be available for instant purchase just around the corner.
But what of the staff working at that local supermarket? What of the worker who gets up and leaves their home early on a Sunday morning to begin a 7am shift to enable me to have my fresh bread by 10am? In an NOP Consumer Poll in 2005, three out of four people said that they would rather be assured of one day a week to spend with family and friends than have extra hours to shop on a Sunday. Retailers are able to survive because of customers demand and if their doors are closed, the customers will merely go elsewhere. As successive British parliaments progressively deregulate areas of life once legislated in accordance with Christian moral precepts, including Sunday trading, who will protect those shop staff that need protection from themselves and from the rampant consumerism of their customers?
I’m fortunate enough to be in a job with regular 9-5 hours, but people do experience discrimination over their desire not to work on Sunday’s. To give a case study, a lady interviewed for a job, disclosed that she would not be able to work on a Sunday, only to be told as she was later ushered from the building that the company ‘would have liked to have given you the job’. That same company called her a few days later to inform her that they had checked with all staff concerned and that they were happy for her to not work Sunday’s and offered her the job. (By which time, using this as her benchmark for how an employer would regard her faith, she had accepted a job offer elsewhere.)
It is very often those who are weakest in society that are especially vulnerable to work at weekends, as they cannot afford to loose their job. I would argue also though, that often people are driven to work on Sunday’s because they want that little bit of extra money and think that this is more important than family time – with many employers offering time and a half or even double pay on Sunday’s, this can often be an attractive option. Of course I acknowledge that some people do have to work on Sunday’s – my Mother for example is a midwife and I think there are many women out there who would be seriously concerned if all midwives refused to work on Sunday’s. Similar professions that spring to mind include paramedics, fire-fighters and the police.
The Keep Sunday Special campaign is based on the fact that there is a need for rhythm in life: regular times for rest and worship and the need to protect and safeguard the weak against exploitation. They point out that while shops try to argue that they are being big hearted in giving the consumers the freedom to shop when they like, the reality is that freedom for you takes away someone else’s freedom – because they’re the one that has to work. They emphasise that it is for the benefit of society as a whole that a proper balance between work and home life be encouraged, stating, “We believe that children need to spend time with their parents for healthy social and moral development, and adults need time to develop the relationships with partners, family and friends that give them support and well-being. That's why we believe it's vitally important that we all get shared time off.”1 It’s not just the family that is affected by Sunday working, it’s the whole community. They write, “Every voluntary organisation, club or society depends upon people having time off at the same time as each other. So with the erosion of Sunday as a different day from all the rest, communities are in danger of increasing fragmentation.”2 The drive to work more hours and more days in the week doesn’t seem to have done us much good. In Britain work related stress affects 1 in 5 people and 13 million working days are lost each year – this makes encouraging work on Sunday seem somewhat ironic. I can’t help asking whether we might not be better ensuring people get a proper rest once a week, so that we can actually work more effectively and productively the rest of the time.
While it may not be possible to opt out of Sunday work if you happen to be a nurse or a care-worker, retail staff have the legal right to request to opt-out from working on Sunday’s. Yet the sad reality is that many people don’t feel free to do this, for fear of looking bad, losing their job, harming their promotion prospects or damaging relationships with colleagues. Government guidelines on Sunday working also state, “If you decide to take the opt-out your employer doesn't have to offer you extra work on other days instead. You are likely to lose the wages you used to earn by working on Sundays”.3 This to me seems a fundamental flaw in the current legislation – if you won’t be offered alternative hours to Sunday and will therefore lose your wages, many people, particularly in poorly paid shop or catering jobs, may find that they have to work on Sunday’s to make ends meet. So the reality is, they may not have a choice to not work on Sunday’s. Furthermore, employees may often find that even though technically they can opt out, they still face pressure to work on Sunday’s. The challenge here seems clear: the government may have recognised the right of the worker to attend Sunday worship, but we need to ensure that they commit to seeing this worked out in practice and ensuring that people are not discriminated against should they chose not to work on Sundays.
One organisation that is seeking legislation to promote the balance of work and family life is the “Keep Time for Children” initiative. It aims to promote the relational benefits of parents spending time with their children, based on research, education and lobbying for changes in the law. As well as providing evidence for these benefits it also seeks new legislation that will protect shared time off for families. A key focus will be on requiring all employers to allow 'parent employees' (with school age children) either Saturday or Sunday off each week, so that there is at least one day off a week during term time when parents and children can spend time together. 4
Current legislation is clear that it’s not just Christians who might not want to work on Sunday’s. Government guidelines read, “Everyone has the right not to be discriminated against because of their religion or belief (or because they have no religion or belief). Speak to your employer and explain how important it is to you to have Sundays off to practice your religion”5 However, further investigation has left me highly skeptical as to whether the following clause in our recommendation statement is actually being implemented, “Uphold the rights of other religious traditions to reasonable time off work in conjunction with their own religious festivals.” While it may be reasonable to request time off to practice your religion and while employers are recommended to consider time off for religious holidays sympathetically, they can refuse it. Neither do they have to provide time for religious observances, for example Friday prayer.
It seems to me that there is work to be done in ensuring it is not just Christians who are allowed time off in conjunction with religious festivals, but other faiths as well. I hope this shows that there is much practical work to be done in urging governments to recognise the rights of workers to attend Sunday public worship and to maintain a weekly day for rest and family time. We also need to uphold the rights of other religious traditions to reasonable time off work, in conjunction with their own religious festivals. Perhaps the best way of doing this is to emphasise that it is for the benefit of society as a whole that a proper balance between work and home life be encouraged. This isn’t just about the benefit for the individual – it’s about the good and well being of the whole nation. Just one practical way you could get involved is to sign the Keep Sunday Special petition on their website at: http://www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/playyourpart/petition.php.
References:
1 http://www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/why/protecting.php
2 http://www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/why/preserving.php
3 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10028516
4 http://www.keeptimeforchildren.org.uk/about.php
5 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10028516
Rebecca Chapman, Public Theology Researcher.
