Due to the senior shopping time zone and early closing, there may be more people in stores than usual before Christmas. DIY stores will not open on Christmas Eve, it is worth buying the Christmas tree stand earlier.

Coronavirus: the second wave, the second closure

Later than expected by many, but in mid-November, the Hungarian government also decided to try to curb the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic by introducing restrictions. At the time of the decision, 5,000 new infections had been identified per day and the number of deaths from the virus mostly ranged from 50 to 100 in 24 hours. The first step is partial closure, but how effective it is is questionable. Follow our news!

Viktor Orbán announced on Monday that the strict measures still in force will remain in place until January 11. This means, among other things, that the senior time zone and limited store opening hours will remain until 7:00 p.m., which can cause a riot during Christmas shopping in stores. The national medical director, Cecília Müller, also said it was not a good direction to have crowded shopping centers.

Zoltán Karsai, president of the Commercial Employees Union, told hvg.hu about the announcement. He said that if a store loses two hours in the morning or has to close early, it will also appear at the checkout. This is an important issue for the union, because in this way they cannot sit in the best conditions to negotiate wages on behalf of employers.

Tight opening hours are also an epidemiological concern, because that way more people want to shop at the same time, which can be a problem, especially in small stores where it is difficult to keep their distance, Karsai said. From this point of view, December 24 of this year can be very risky, because then the shops will close earlier anyway and the old people’s bar (9 to 11) will lose two more hours. They fear it will be a serious riot. That is why they contacted several department store chains and asked them not to open them. So far, Auchan and Spar have replied that they will close Christmas Eve at noon instead of 2 p.m., which means it won’t be worth the shopping after 11 a.m. DIY stores, by the way, followed the advice. : they will not open that day.

According to Zoltán Karsai, it is even possible that the usual Christmas attack is missed, because many people are already buying durable items, we also got to see this last weekend.

At our suggestion that even stores could limit the number of shoppers, Karsai said that stores can do this in principle and have already seen initiatives to do so. For example, one of the larger chains uses a method to display on a screen how many people are in the store, and when it reaches a number where it is no longer possible to keep the distance safely, a STOP message appears warning to the clients.

According to Karsai, to protect workers’ health, employers managed to have enough masks, hand sanitizers and Plexiglas in the boxes in the spring, and he thinks this should be enough now too. Several chains have accepted his proposal to introduce night shifts into work processes where possible (such as loading goods) so that workers can work in safe conditions.

Karsai also said that they are negotiating with employers for a longer period of work than before, which could be surprising from a union. According to the president, this is important because if a worker cannot work due to illness and no longer has a license, he can work in that period even months later and, therefore, his salary will not be reflected in the lost period.

We also contacted the National Trade Association about the prime minister’s announcement, they want to respond in a statement Tuesday.

(Illustration of our image)



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The operational staff will decide on Monday how we will be able to celebrate Christmas.

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hvg.hu
At home

The current restrictive measures will be maintained, which means that the shopping band for the elderly will not disappear and they will not move to digital education in primary schools.