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The current lockdown causes the annual debate on deals open in the run-up to Christmas to flare up again on Sundays. Chamber of Commerce President Harald Mahrer on Thursday spoke in favor of longer opening hours, as well as opening on Sundays for the time after closing until Christmas. On the one hand, sales should be boosted in the run-up to Christmas, on the other hand, it’s also about “equalizing the flow of customers,” Mahrer said Thursday in the early daily Ö3 on ORF radio. He was met with rejection or at least skepticism not only from the union, but also within the chamber and the union.
“Unworthy of social collaboration”
GPA union president Barbara Teiber heard about Mahrer’s decision from the media and was very upset about it, she said. That is unworthy of social collaboration. The top union rejects a Sunday opening in the run-up to Christmas, as well as extended opening hours. “Stores can now stay open until 9 pm How much longer?” Commercial employees “are people, they have families” too. Business employees were already seriously targeted in the 2020 crown year and have spoken out dozens of times against opening stores on Sunday.
“So many things break there”
This was also said by Daniela Ebeert, coordinator of the “Alliance for Free Sunday”, which includes both churches and unions and numerous civil society organizations. People need a day off together, children need their parents. If everyone had another day off, volunteer work, for example, would no longer be possible. “A lot of things break,” Ebeert said.
The argument to strengthen Austrian trade with longer opening hours before Christmas compared to the American giant Amazon, neither the GPA presidents, Teiber nor Ebeert, accept. Many Austrians had a short-term job or were unemployed, now they have no more money to spend, the Allianz representative said. Instead, Teiber asked for fair taxes for the online giants, which would bring in much more than two Sundays. “Using the corona virus and the lock as a hook to allow Sunday’s opening is in bad taste,” said Franz Gosch, federal manager of the Christian union group (FCG) at the GPA.
“Absolutely irresponsible”
The Upper Austria Chamber of Labor (AK) attacked in the same direction. In view of the “already extreme stress on industry employees due to the combination of infection risk and the flood of customers in the run-up to Christmas,” Mahrer’s proposal is utterly irresponsible. It would also generate neither an increase in total sales nor a separation of customer flows, but only from small businesses to large ones Relocating retail chains, “AK-OÖ president Johann Kalliauer said in a broadcast.
Working on Sundays must remain the strict exception in Austria. “In 2019, 469,000 employees, or about one in ten, had to work regularly on Sundays, most often in restaurants, transport, healthcare and entertainment,” said the head of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor. “Unfortunately, the government failed to contain the pandemic in time. This failure must not be carried out behind the backs of the workers,” Kalliauer said.
Skeptical trade association
Even the trade association is skeptical. Its managing director, Rainer Will, spoke out against the obligation to keep it open, especially since personnel costs on Sundays are so high, which is difficult to increase, especially for small businesses. “Given that the 600,000 employees in national commerce were already stressed in the year corona 2020, we recommend working on Sundays in December only on a voluntary basis.”
Even within the Chamber of Commerce there was resistance, especially in the federal states. Peter Buchmüller, head of the Salzburg WKÖ, said: “That would not be good for trade, especially for small and medium-sized companies.” He also indicated that employees would have to get a 100 percent bonus. “The question is who is this business for, only for the greats.”
“One of several proposals”
However, WKÖ commercial president Rainer Trefelik jumped to the side of his boss Mahrer and emphasized that the opening of the remaining two Sundays before Christmas was one of several proposals. “Other measures the WKÖ is considering include extending opening hours or establishing personal guidance systems.” Trefelik also suggested that employees who had not worked during the lockdown should be used the two Sundays before Christmas. Employees who work Sunday should have time off afterward, the commercial president said.
Unsurprisingly, approval for Sunday’s opening in December came from Richard Lugner, owner of Lugner City in Vienna and an advocate of longer opening times for many years. Family shopping together is an event for customers. That was demonstrated at Sunday’s opening during Euro 2008 soccer, when distributors at his mall made more sales on Sundays than any other day. And that with significantly shorter opening times. “It cannot be the case that online retailers, who pay barely any taxes, stay with the Christmas business and only allow Austrian retailers to go to waste,” Lugner said.
There was also approval from NEOS economics spokesman Sepp Schellhorn. “We are always concerned about Sunday’s opening, we defended it even before Corona,” he said on the sidelines of a press conference. “In any case, that would ensure separation and would be an effective means if it were extended to seven days.”
