Socialists want parliament to guarantee no change in Sunday shopping rules

Budapest, April 18 (MTI) – Hungary’s parliament should provide guarantees that it would not make substantive changes to rules governing retail activitives on Sunday for three years, the head of the opposition Socialists told a press conference on Monday.

József Tóbiás said that if a refendum had decided whether shops should be allowed to open on a Sunday, the resulting law could not be changed for three years. Tóbiás noted that the government seemed to have no uniform position on the issue, as three ministers have voiced their preference to reintroduce the recently-scrapped shopping ban.

Tóbiás criticised ruling Fidesz for scrapping rules under which employees had been entitled to a 100 percent wage supplement for Sundays, in an effort to “punish” employees for their support to eliminating the ban.

The Socialist Party has submitted an extensive amendment to the Labour Code, which would reintroduce double pay for staff working on Sundays, but also stipulate that an employee shall not work more than two Sundays a month, Socialist deputy chair Zoltán Lukács said. He added that the rule of double payment should apply to employees in all sectors. The Socialists also suggest that employers should be obliged to pay contributions to the central budget on 50 percent of the Sunday supplement only.

Following the Socialist proposal, the Labour Code would maximise weekly working time at 40 hours a week, Lukacs said.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters