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Grekodom reports:
Economy Minister, Dimitris Papadimitriou, signed the new law that allows the voluntary operation of shops on Sundays.
The new law 4427/2017 allows for retail stores in central Athens, Thessaloniki, and tourist areas to be open on Sundays for six months of the year during tourist season. The opening of retail stores on Sundays is a prerequisite of Greece's bailout program.
The Federation of Private Sector Employees has called a 24-hour strike to protest the decision while the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) said it will appeal it to the Council of State.
The ministerial decision determines, in great detail, specific areas where the shops can open on Sundays.
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New Greek Law Allows Sunday Shopping
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New crypt. See /usr/news/crypt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @01:07AM (5 children)
- IBTimes [ibtimes.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kazzie on Wednesday July 26 2017, @10:27AM (4 children)
I recall similar arguments in the UK (specifically England and Wales) in the lead up to the 1994 Sunday Trading Act [wikipedia.org]. Before then, there'd be virtually no shops open on a Sunday. Large shops are now limited to six hours of trading on a Sunday, and while smaller shops (less than 3,000 sq ft) can stay open longer, most follow similar hours. (Exceptions are convenience stores, etc.)
Opening Pubs on a Sunday was another big issue: it was banned in Wales from 1881 [wikipedia.org], (non-conformist Christianity and temperance were very strong in Wales at the time) and was only permitted county by bounty from the 1960s onward.
Restrictions on alcohol sales and general retail were relaced on railways and ferries. This is portrayed in the 1953 film The Titfield Thunderbolt [wikipedia.org], where a wealthy local is presuaded to support the reopening of the village's railway line because they could legally open a bar on the train earlier than pubs were allowed to open.
Entrepeneurs took this idea a step further and bought an old passenger ferry [wikipedia.org] in 1979 and moored her up on the North Wales coast, with the intention of operating bars, clubs and shops on her, which could be open for longer hours (including on Sunday) because they were aboard a ship. Due to much acrimony and legal wrangling, it was never a success. The ship is still moored up there today, abandoned, rusting and recently plastered with graffiti.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @05:01PM (1 child)
About that last bit: graffiti artists were commissioned, according to the "Future plans" section of the article you've linked. Hence the graffiti aren't (entirely) vandalism.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Wednesday July 26 2017, @09:55PM
Much of it was indeed commissioned, and the various pieces cover a lot of the hull (hence "plastered"). A selection of before and after images can be seen here [dailymail.co.uk].
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday July 26 2017, @05:07PM (1 child)
Sunday trading was never illegal in Scotland and when I was a teenager I worked part time in a supermarket. Sunday used to be paid at double time and the shop opened later and closed earlier on a Sunday but at the age of 16 I really used to appreciate getting 6 hours work on a Sunday. The only problem was, they gave me lots of Sunday shifts and I was very tired as a result and my school work suffered. My parents were unsympathetic.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Wednesday July 26 2017, @09:46PM
Ah, double-time for Sundays! I had a bit of that in the decade or so after the 1994 act for England and Wales, and (for various reasons) was in the rota for every Sunday too. I was glad of the extra money.
Now that Sunday trading is so commonplace (in England and Wales), very few companies offer double time or even time-and-a-half for Sundays. There's still the legal right for employees to formally opt out of working Sundays, though.