Plan B Forum

Some contend that the traditional five-day week has had its day and businesses should be allowed to operate whenever they want.


A natural and necessary step for competitiveness, or another tear in the fabric of society? Seeking flexibility

Consumers are looking more to shopping when it suits them, Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays. We know retailers will have to pay a penalty rate for their staff; we are paying double time on a Sunday now. If retailers feel they cannot pay that, then no landlord should enforce trading hours on them. Some retailers say they cannot afford to pay the penalty rates, and cannot afford to open. But there are some staff, particularly young people, who love to work those hours. The people we find who like to work weekends and public holidays are young and often mothers with young children where there may have been a divorce so dad has got the kids on every second week or they are trying to pay the mortgage off. Dad is at home and can take the kids to sport and mum can go to work. They are happy to share that responsibility to ensure they have extra money coming in.

Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the Australian Retailers Association
Leisure time vital
People are working long hours now. There is a general sentiment there needs to be a better balance between work and leisure time. Now we have only 4½ days where the major retailers are closed. There is a feeling that enough is enough. It is appropriate there is time in the community for a couple of days' rest. Employers like to couch the issue as ''we are a 24/7 economy and in a modern economy we should have more flexibility'', but a lot of people view the flexibility as being one-sided. It's not just about the economy, it's about being able to have time with the family or whatever else you want to do in your leisure time. It's positive for employers to make sure people have appropriate leisure time, so they will feel rested and be more productive when they are at work. The distinction is becoming less obvious all the time, with the advent of technology, for example.

Mark Lennon, secretary, Unions NSW

After seven hours on your feet, the supermarket noises fuse into a post-industrial dystopian symphony. Every day, that sly, droning background hum of the fridges and fluorescents, layered behind the weekend Westfield buzz. Scanner beeps count out the shift like a defective metronome and a thousand trigger-response customer conversations blend into a grey overview afternoon. In a break, I read how they want to open the shops whenever they want, extend ''ordinary hours'' - something about killing off penalty rates - but it's getting busy again.

Five thirty-five and the after-work rush sets in, like a hornet's nest waking. Customers swarm the checkouts, each basket and trolley a momentary glimpse into the rest of their night. It's not all throwaway small talk. There's a pensioner counting out $40 in silver, the three-day-dry junkie 40¢ short for a pack of cigarettes, the red-faced banker in Hugo Boss disputing the price of a banana. He probably makes more in an hour than I make in a fortnight. Sunday shift, time and a half, enough this week to cover the mortgage.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-a ... z1rPSvRJvl