Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!yunexus!geac!alias!chk
From: chk@alias.UUCP (C. Harald Koch)
Newsgroups: ont.general
Subject: Re: Sunday shopping
Message-ID: <697@alias.UUCP>
Date: 27 Dec 89 17:28:41 GMT
References: <25900FAC.1DA4@telly.on.ca> <1989Dec21.050833.8626@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>  <1989Dec21.051318.6564@utzoo.uucp>
Reply-To: chk@alias.UUCP (C. Harald Koch)
Organization: Alias Research Inc., Toronto, ON Canada
Lines: 54

[ Ok, time to be bipartisan and jump into the fray again: ]

In article <25900FAC.1DA4@telly.on.ca> evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) writes:
el> If labour laws are strengthened to keep anyone from getting fired 'cause
el> they won't work Sunday, then this would be resolved. I don't want anyone
el> telling me when my "day of rest" is. What if I want to close Tuesdays
el> and open Sundays? Why should the government prevent me from doing this?

In article <1989Dec21.050833.8626@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> golchowy@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy) writes:
go> I disagree...the BIG issue is that the state is making laws that
go> discriminate on the basis of religion.  This should be in violation
go> of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  If you don't trust you're
go> employer, you don't have to work for him or her...this is a
go> free country.

In article <1989Dec21.051318.6564@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
hs> Then deal with the problem directly:  limit employers' right to insist
hs> that people work on Sunday.  Don't say stores can't open Sundays, just say
hs> that working Sunday can't be a condition of employment for full-time
hs> staff.  Then the staff who value time off more than extra cash will stay
hs> home Sunday, the ones who are desperate for money and would rather work
hs> will work, and part-timers will get hired to make up any shortage.

Essentially, three different people have said "If you don't want to work
Sunday, don't. You don't have to; the law will protect you."

It's not that easy.

Employers can put an amazing amount of pressure on employees to do things
that are unappealing or even illegal. "Do this or you don't get promoted",
"Do this or you don't get your Christmas Bonus". Coercion is easy and common
in all time related jobs.

Even the threat "Do this or you're fired" or "You will do this or we won't
hire you" are common. It is easy to come up with a legal excuse to fire
someone, particularly in these non-unionized jobs. "She was a slacker" is
common. It is easy to come up with legitimate reasons for not hiring
someone; "This other person had better qualifications".

Furthermore, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to prove that the
reason you were fired/not hired is because you wouldn't work Sundays;
chances are the victim can't afford legal aid of the same caliber as the
employer can, and the common prejudice is that the employee is just trying to
"get back at the" employer.

"Don't work Sundays if you don't want to" is not a valid rebuttal. If Sunday
shopping is legalized, people *WILL* be forced against their wills to work
Sundays.

-- 
C. Harald Koch                        Alias Research, Inc., Toronto ON Canada
chk%alias@csri.utoronto.ca      chk@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu      chk@chk.mef.org
"There is no problem, no matter how large or how small, that cannot be solved
 by a suitable application of high explosives."               -Leo Graf, 2298