Enterprise Bill [Lords]

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on the holy alliance that he has assembled behind his amendment. A member of USDAW is quoted as saying:

“I’d be under pressure to do more hours on Sunday, making it impossible for me to go to church.”

Is that not an undesirable aspect of the proposal?

[Mr Burrowes]

The Government have tried to deal with that concern by putting forward additional religious protections in the Bill, and my amendment would not delete those. Whether the pressures are explicit or implied, they are a factor.

The Government did have a pilot in one sense, because such a measure was road-tested during the 2012 Olympics. A specific opt-out was created so that staff could avoid working the longer Sundays if they did not wish to, and retailers claimed that they would cover only those hours when staff volunteered to work. However, I understand that 564 representatives in stores that opened for longer hours found that in over half those stores—56%—despite the right to opt out, staff came under pressure to work the extra hours. Those who asked not to work the extra hours were threatened, or punished by being refused overtime.