In Serbia, the ban on working on Sundays for commercial establishments has not yet been introduced. It is not even considered. Many countries Of the European Union, including countries in the region they legally introduced Sunday as a non-working day for trade employees. According to the interlocutors of the "Vremena" portal, the results in the countries that implemented this law show that the implementation of the ban on working on Sundays does not affect the decline in traffic, but that citizens only buy more on Fridays or Saturdays.
The Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions (ASNS) has repeatedly submitted to the Government of Serbia the Initiative for banning work on Sundays in the field of trade.
Ranka Savić from ASNS told the "Vremena" portal that Serbia with this government is far from introducing a ban on working on Sundays. "In many European countries, a four-day working week is being introduced, while in our country the ban on working on Sundays is an absolute problem. I am not optimistic that, during this government, it will come to that."
And Milica Marinković from the Initiative for Economic and Social Rights A11 told our portal that the only way to implement this request is to introduce adequate laws, which would then be binding for all sellers, because due to the competitiveness of individual shops' decisions to ban work on Sundays would be sustainable.
"No non-working week"
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, previously spoke about the non-working week in one of his countless television appearances and said on that occasion: "There can be no non-working week. I don't give. Whoever wants not to work on Sundays should go to other countries. We need to work on weekends, to work more in order to reach the most developed countries in Europe."
And then he added: "As long as I live, I will not accept Sunday being non-working."
Working conditions in practice
Marinković says that the state of labor rights has never been worse. "The Social-Economic Council, as an institution that should connect workers, employers and the state, has been almost non-functioning for years. It only formally exists."
He emphasizes that the unions have lost almost all their power and that the state in such a situation has no need to meet the workers, and "without a greater and more extensive reaction and demand from the workers to improve their rights, there will be no improvement in rights," says Marinković.
And Ranka Savić says that we have equalized with the EU countries only in the lack of manpower and that now "we have a huge problem" with the lack of manpower, especially in trade where the average salary is somewhere around 50.000 dinars and people simply won't work for that money anymore .
She adds that several times in written communication with President Vučić, she complained that they did not at least think about the fact that work on Sundays, during religious or national holidays should be paid additionally.
"For 110.000 workers, Sunday is a day like any other. Therefore, working on Sundays is paid the same as on normal working days."
Milica Marinković indicates that one of the largest retail chains advertises two free days a week as an advantage in employment. "It is clear that the situation is not great, when things that should be taken for granted are emphasized as an advantage."
What do economists say?
Economist Mihailo Gajić told the "Vremena" portal that banning work on Sundays would have neither a positive nor a negative effect on economic growth, what would change are consumer habits, so instead of shopping on Sundays, they would shop on Saturdays or during the working week.
Nothing is free, however, because for businesses that now work on Sundays, it would mean "one or two fewer shifts per week, so between four and eight fewer shifts per month." He adds that in that case we could expect companies to reduce employment by a certain percentage.
"Why should they pay workers and have a certain number of workers if the total volume of work for them decreases," explains Gajić.
Employers respond to workers' objections that it doesn't matter if they work on Sundays, if workers have two days off during the week, says Milica Marinković. But it is relevant because "time with the family is generally reserved for Sunday, and this must be taken into account when talking about the dignity of workers."
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