THE PRESS SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1977. Protections in shop hours bill

Press, 11 June 1977, Page 12

THE PRESS SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1977. Protections in shop hours bill

Much nonsense and some ill-informed speculation about the possible effects of the Shop Trading Hours Bill have been preventing a rational assessment of the meaning and worth of the bill. Shop assistants have every right to object to changes in the law that arc likely to imperil their working conditions. Many employees, however, seem to have been poorly informed on how the proposed law would affect their work. This is doubly unfortunate because those who attended meetings and who stopped work in protest were entitled to make such a decision on the clearest possible grounds.

If the present law had been made and were now applied to the satisfaction of most people, including employees, shop proprietors, and the customers on whom both those groups depend, a fresh look at the law would not be needed at all. In fact, if the present law were rigorously applied, very few people would be content. Since the present provisions for fixing trading hours have virtually no regard for assessing public interest in general, or customers’ interests in particular, the time for a revision of the law is overdue

For shop employees the Shop Trading Hours Bill contains a vital distinction between fixing the hours for opening shops and fixing the hours and conditions for employment in shops. The bill proposes that the shop hours be restricted by legislation, instead of by awards. Variations from the prescribed limits shall be allowed by a commission after it has determined “the best interests of the public generally.” To reach this decision the commission must take account of criteria specified in the law and it must hear submissions from employees’ unions, local authorities, employers’ associations, town planning authorities, the Secretary of Labour and inspectors of factories, the occupiers of other shops

affected, and from any organisations that persuade the commission that they will be affected by the result.

The occupier of a shop may, therefore. open his doors between the limits set generally by the law and. for exceptions. by the commission. This does not mean that the shopkeeper will automatically have employees to man the business. The bill specifies that the proposed law cannot override provisions in industrial awards and agreements: “Nothing in this act shall require any employee to work in any shop contrary to any such award or agreement that applies to him,” says the bill.

Regard for the principle of the 40hour week is among the criteria to be considered by the commission; and the provision in the Shops and Offices Act that limits the hours of employment of shop assistants is not touched by the bill. While the bill adds new considerations about the hours for shop trading — considerations that are not part of the present fixing of shop hours by award negotiations — the final determination of employees’ hours and conditions remains exactly where it is today. In respect of employment, shopkeepers and employees are likely to negotiate to work and sell goods in the shortest practicable time. If some shopkeepers take a different view, the employees’ unions will have no less power* to resist change than they have today.

The Shop Trading Hours Bill might be faulted by those who seek change and who see in the bill substantial barriers to altering hours: at least the barriers appeal to reason, and broad agreement on a particular need for change would almost certainly be rewarded. Those who do not want change will find a considerable protection in the bill: and both parties to award negotiations have undiminished power to stop any change in the hours of work for employees.