Strike and barbecue in front of the AR for the closure of shops on Sundays and holidays

Almost a year after being submitted to Parliament, the citizens' legislative initiative calling for the closure of shops on Sundays and public holidays, as well as a reduction in opening hours to 10 pm, will be discussed this Thursday.

This is why the Portuguese Trade, Office and Services Workers' Union (CESP), the organization that promoted the initiative, called a strike for this day of “struggle” so that workers could follow the discussion in the chamber. Outside, there will also be a mobilization starting at 11 am, with music and a barbecue.

The more than 23 thousand subscribers argue that Portugal, in the European context, is the country “where the most liberal opening hours for commercial establishments have long been practiced”, which “has direct implications for the organization of working hours for workers in the retail sector”.

As the sector is “traditionally female and young”, it is said that working mothers in particular are faced with the concern of finding a place for their children at night, on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, when schools, nurseries and childminders are not open or available”.

The text of the initiative recalls that the Constitution “guarantees all workers the right to organize work in socially dignified conditions, in order to facilitate personal fulfillment and allow the reconciliation of professional activity with family life, as well as the right to rest and leisure, to a maximum working day limit and to weekly rest”.

The current operating regime for commerce “stipulates that establishments selling to the public and providing services, including those located in shopping centres, may be open between 6am and midnight every day of the week”. However, such a broad operating range “has led to a huge deregulation of working hours and the consequent disruption of the family life of workers in this sector”.

The subscribers therefore propose an amendment to Decree Law No. 48/96, of May 15, changing the opening hours for businesses to be from 6 am to 10 pm, from Monday to Saturday, closing on Sundays and public holidays.

Day of struggle with strike and pilgrimage to Parliament

Inês Branco, leader of CESP and one of the first signatories of the legislative initiative, is aware of the position of the parties that have the most power in a Parliament in which the PSD/CDS coalition and Chega emerged strengthened from the elections of May 18. The proposal will therefore not be in a position to be viable.

“Despite this, we believe that being there at the door is a form of pressure because these parties say they are concerned about the lives of workers and their families”, he stated in statements to Jornal Económico (JE), considering that there is “room” for these parties, and even the PS, “to change their position, if not in its entirety, at least in part of the proposal, such as reducing the period until 10 pm, or closing on holidays”.

The leader also rejects that this protest is seen as a trivialization of the strike, arguing that a constitutional right is at stake and that, as signatures for the legislative initiative were collected, workers were told that the day the issue reached Parliament would be a day of struggle.

“Commerce has many reasons to go on strike far more than it does and workers will resort to strike whenever they see fit,” says the trade unionist, stressing that the closure of businesses on Sundays and holidays, as well as the reduction of working hours, is a “fair” and “long-standing” fight by workers.

Although this was not a strike that was prepared well in advance, as it was only called when the agenda of the Assembly of the Republic (AR) was known, Inês Branco hopes to fill the galleries of Parliament by 3 pm, when the initiative is discussed.

“We knew that it was going to be debated one day before the strike notice, so I admit that there will be constraints, but I believe that we will have a good mobilization because this is an issue that mobilizes many workers in the retail sector”, he states.

Last week, the Left Bloc also put forward a proposal that determines the “closure of large commercial areas on Sundays and public holidays, with the exception of cinemas and restaurants”. Neither initiative has any legs to stand in Parliament.