Malls to close on Sundays and holidays?
A petition launched by the Commercial Workers Union obtained more than 20,000 signatures and, therefore, the Parliament will have discuss and voted on it.
The closure of shopping centers on Sundays and holidays will be discussed in Parliament. Deputies will also vote on a reduction in working hours for workers in large commercial areas.
Until now, hours can vary between 6:00 and midnight and on the table is an early closing at 22:00, with the aim of improving the reconciliation of workers' personal and professional lives.
The idea is not new. Across Europe, there are already several countries where shopping is not done on Sunday and where shopping centers close early, such as in Germany, Spain or Poland.
The citizens' legislative initiative also advocates changes to the opening hours of commercial establishments, which would close at 10 pm. “Workers who go out at midnight in shopping centers are unable to accompany their children and, in many cases, at that time they no longer have transport to go home”, said Márcia Barbosa, from CESP, at the time the initiative was launched.
In the last 30 years, according to CESP, the opening of shops on Sundays and holidays became normalized, as well as the extension of opening hours until midnight. These legislative changes benefit “only and exclusively large commercial companies”.
Howver, the Portuguese Association of Shopping Centers (APCC) says that the measure could put thousands jobs at risk and will force a change in consumers' shopping habits.
According to the APCC, weekends represent 36% of shopping center sales and, therefore, the measure “will generate a loss of around 18 thousand jobs in the retail sector, and a loss of around 20% of direct jobs in Shopping Centers”, the direction of this associative structure tells Expresso.