OLaNO-NOVA: Everyone Deserves Free Sundays

Bratislava, November 2 (TASR) – Everyone deserves a free Sunday, MPs Richard Vasecka and Anna Veresova (both OLaNO-NOVA) told a news conference in Bratislava on Wednesday, adding that they support an extension of employees’ rights to free Sundays and holidays as well as the regulation of Sunday sales.

The OLaNO-NOVA MPs pointed to the fact that Slovaks spend more time at work than most other EU citizens, while more developed European countries tend to reduce working hours.

“We don’t want to come up with a respective bill immediately, as our experience shows that the Opposition’s drafts usually fail to make it through and we might block talks on this issue for six months in this way. As caucus head I call on representatives of democratic parties’ caucuses to launch a fair discussion on the most suitable regulation of Sunday sales and Sunday work in Slovakia,” said Vasecka.

“One in five Slovaks regularly has to give up their Sunday family lunch, as they regularly spend Sundays at work. As many as 19.7 percent of Slovaks do so, the highest proportion in the EU. Slovaks work for the second longest time a week in the EU [behind Greeks] and, if that weren’t enough, they also hold the record for night work. One in six Slovaks regularly works night shifts, which is unambiguously the highest proportion among all EU countries. Interestingly, Croats almost don’t know what night work is, with only 1.5 percent of employees working night shifts,” explained Veresova.

Veresova stressed that trends in Europe differ in terms of work on Sundays and public holidays. “Outlets and banks are usually closed on public holidays,” he said, adding that Slovakia should ban Sunday sales or at least regulate them more strictly if it wants to approach more developed countries.

OLaNO-NOVA came up with a proposal to reduce Sunday sales between 10 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday in the past, but this was unsuccessful.