EGN NEWS DESK
A petition demanding that Tesco on the Scottish isle of Lewis stay shut on Sundays has gained over 1,300 signatures.
The island within the Outer Hebrides is dwelling to round 20,000 folks and it’s nonetheless frequent on this a part of Scotland for outlets and companies to be closed on Sunday.
The petition on Change.org was launched six days in the past by islander Alasdair Macleod, who mentioned that if Tesco opens seven days every week within the island’s primary city of Stornoway, then different outlets and companies are prone to observe.
“Tesco is and has been a extremely valued and revered, native employer and retailer, repeatedly giving generously to native charities and causes and at all times respecting our native Sunday custom of relaxation. We hope this mutual respect of neighborhood and retailer will lengthy proceed,” the petition reads.
“If Tesco Stornoway, one of many largest outlets within the Western Isles, opens on a Sunday then different companies and organisations shall be extra prone to open on a Sunday too. They will sadly really feel pressured too.”
The petition speaks concerning the worth to staff and households of a day of relaxation on Sundays and says that signing it’s “standing for the glory of Christ, our Christian custom, our neighborhood spirit, and our proper to be totally different”.
“Many of us maintain cherished reminiscences of island Sundays as a assured day of relaxation, rest and no work – a valuable day of household time and worship. However, this straightforward but profound day is in danger as a result of idea of seven-day buying and selling creeping into our tradition,” it says.
“When shops and companies open their doorways on Sunday, it might look like a comfort at first, however the ensuing ripple impact leaves staff with much less time to relaxation, much less time for household, much less time for church worship and invariably, a decrease high quality of life.”
Unlike in England and Wales, there are not any restrictions on Sunday buying and selling hours in Scotland and plenty of bigger chains, together with supermarkerts, are open seven days every week. In 2003, laws was handed giving Scottish shopworkers the proper to refuse to work on Sundays.
The native council in Stornoway has already given permission to Tesco to open its doorways on Sunday however the grocery store should seek the advice of with employees on the department.
The petition continues, “Often we do not realise the worth of what we now have till it is gone. We are the envy of many individuals dwelling in mainland Scotland with our peaceable, work-free Sundays so why swap them for his or her hectic, annoying, work-filled, busy Sundays?
“Every yr the Outer Hebrides is voted proper on the prime of a ballot of the happiest locations to reside within the UK. Is it a coincidence that our islands as a complete, are one of many solely locations that also has a assured conventional Sunday of relaxation and no work?”
