They are angry at the government and the new majority. What next with the trade ban?

If the solution comes into force, there would be a trading ban on Christmas Eve, and shops could be open on December 10 and 17. How do representatives of employee organizations react to these findings?

Alfred Bujara, head of trade “Solidarity”, in an interview with money.pl does not hide his disappointment with the commission’s decision.

Women should be given Christmas Eve off, and not offered to work all day on December 10, as the committee voted. This solution is demanded by international corporations that would like to trade from morning to night, or even at night. We must remember about staff shortages, fatigue and overload. Especially during the holidays, he says.

He adds that appropriate regulations in this matter should be adopted earlier. – The regulations regarding whether December 24 will be a working day are set literally at the last minute. The easiest way would be to introduce the change that “Solidarity” proposed several months ago. Christmas Eve should be a day off. If the Sejm adopts the provisions supported by the Commission, there will be a need to urgently change the schedules in many stores – says.

He explains that work in supermarkets and warehouses must be planned well in advance.

One question arises. Who does the parliament in its current configuration want to represent? Perhaps he will want to please the chains for which the pre-Christmas period is a harvest season. A period of intense work for employees is a time of increased profits, mainly for foreign companies, says a trade unionist.

Bujara estimates that there is an atmosphere of resignation among employees. – Women, because they mainly work in trade, are overloaded. This happens every year. The holidays come and everyone enjoys the magical atmosphere. And those women who work in supermarkets don’t want anything anymore. They only dream of one thing: to rest, he emphasizes.

These women have no strength to do anything, their arms are stretched to their knees from the tons of goods they have to move. What is happening in Polish networks is unthinkable in the West. Only in Poland galleries open until 11 p.m., and some stores all night long – sums up.

The head of NSZZP “Biedronka”, Jarosław Lewiński, is also not satisfied with the pace of work on the regulations.

I think we can have justified complaints against the government that has not adopted appropriate regulations. Besides, who in this government cares about trade workers? I don’t think he puts employees as the primary good. It seems to me that the government only cared about selected groups of workers, such as miners and farmers, and trade workers were always last. If topics related to trade workers do not appear in the media, no one is interested in them. And this is visible in this decision postponed until the last minute. Nobody cares about us, he thinks.

As he points out, Monday’s decision of the parliamentary committee does not mean anything, because we are only at the beginning of the legislative path. – There is no information from our employer yet. Employees do not know whether they will go to work on December 24. It cannot be denied that this uncertainty does not evoke positive emotions. There is no denying that everyone would like to have Christmas Eve off, it is a special family holiday and there are no people willing to work on that day – he says.

He explains that the case also has other consequences. – You need to decide when to give employees a day off. And this must be done in the current quarter, which ends at the end of December. It is impossible to return this day in January, and in December the number of days off is exceptionally long. This is an additional problem for both employees and managers. Today they have no idea how to plan, he says.

When it comes to changes to the trade ban that the future government may introduce, we also have a clear position. It should be assumed that shopping Sundays will at least partially return. They should be appropriately rewarded. A decent one would be 200%. gross salary. It should also be possible to choose a day off – some employees postulate this, so that they can, for example, deal with their affairs – Jarosław Lewiński tells us.

Conversations with retail chain employees show that they are divided as to whether the trade ban should be maintained in its current form.

– The first question I asked at work after elections, was whether Christmas Eve would be a working day. Weeks pass and I have no answer – emphasizes an employee of one of the foreign retail chains in an interview with money.pl.

If you ask me if I’m angry, I’ll answer: yes, I’m angry. People do not realize that we do not receive additional pay for working on Sunday. The lack of rest on the weekend is to compensate for an additional day off during the week. There are those who praise this solution. I don’t, she said.

We also asked the network’s employees about their attitude towards the trade ban in October. – To be honest, I’ve had enough. We work extra hours, there is a shortage of workers because no one wants to work so hard. As a result, a cashier is also a warehouseman, a manual worker and a cleaner. I would like to have at least Sunday off – complained one of the retail chain employees.

– If the rate for work on Sunday is higher, I will be happy to apply. I won’t work for the same money, said an employee of a drugstore chain. – For me it makes no difference. I have been working in retail for many years and I am used to working on weekends, said an employee of a discount chain.