Polish entrepreneurs will have to adapt to the new regulations in a very short time. We should not be surprised – argued employers' representatives during the meeting of the parliamentary committee regarding a free Christmas Eve. The solution is supported by employee representatives, emphasizing that the holiday season in many industries is associated with overwork.
The Left's project proposed: establishing December 24 as a day off from work. It is intended to apply to all employees, including employees of commercial establishments, for whom, currently, in accordance with the Act on Restriction of Trade on Sundays and Holidays, Christmas Eve is a working day until 2 p.m.
The first reading of the bill took place on November 8. The Sejm then decided to refer him to further work in two parliamentary committees – the Social Policy and Family Committee and the Economy and Development Committee.
“The procedure is too fast”
Monday's meeting of the former was to be devoted to a discussion on the socio-economic consequences of making Christmas Eve a day off from work in the context of managing the time budget of family households in Poland. However, more often attention was paid to, among others: for a fast pace of work.
– Let's not proceed with the law this way (…), eight weeks in advance, when companies also have their production plans, employees – work schedules – argued MP Barbara Oliwiecka (Poland 2050).
Barbara Grygorcewicz (KO) emphasized that time and broader consultations are highly recommended. – Proceeding at such a pace (…) is too fast – she said.
Off on Christmas Eve – employers against
Klaudia Bazyk, representing the Polish Chamber of Commerce, noted that if the solution enters into force this year, “Polish entrepreneurs will have to adapt to the new law in a very short time.”
She argued, among other things, that closing stores on December 24, when they are also closed for two consecutive days, will be associated with increased losses in fresh products. – Traders are obliged by law to reduce food waste – she noted.
The president of the Polish Organization of Trade and Distribution, Renata Juszkiewicz, noted that “we should not be surprised when it comes to the law.” – We have prepared schedules, we have months-long orders that are simply coming to us for the holidays. The holiday period (…) is a period for industries related to trade – the entire supply chain, processors, farmers, us as traders – she added.
– Our employees understand that they want to rest, but I think that taking an extra day on Christmas Eve will overload them even more. The entire accumulation will be postponed (…) to Friday (…). We can already see what happens in stores on Saturday after we don't have shopping Sundays. I think this year absolutely we should not allow (…) this Christmas Eve to be free – she added.
Robert Lisicki from Konfederacja Lewiatan noted that Christmas Eve would be the fourteenth day off and “the question is whether it is a lot or a little.” He added that “there may be room for a free Christmas Eve (…), the only question is whether it could be balanced in some way.”
Employees want change
Representatives of supermarket employees voted in favor of a free Christmas Eve. – For us it is only the fourteenth day (off – editor) and Sundays off – said Izabela Starypan, a representative of the trade unions. She drew attention to overwork during the holiday season. – A few days before the holidays, working hours are already extended (…). Finishing work at 2 p.m. (on Christmas Eve – ed.) (…), do we want these holidays? Are we happy about these holidays? No, we are not happy, she said.
– We support a free Christmas Eve – said trade union representative Eryk Kościk. – For us, this is a time of increased sales. I work as a cashier, as a store employee, I put out the goods myself, so for me this time (…) is so exhausting that I arrive on Christmas Eve, to my hometown located 300 km from Warsaw, barely alive – he added.
Lisicki noted that the problem lies in the timing of the proposal. He estimated that the discussion would have been different “if we had found out about it in July or June.”
Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk noted that the debate was taking place now because the project was submitted two months before this year's Christmas Eve. – And we simply have an obligation to work on this bill (…) – she emphasized.
– I think that (…) a special sense of this obligation should burden those who have Christmas Eve off – she added. – I do not remember December 24, which would be a working day for the Sejm, when such full-fledged deliberations would take place – she added. She assessed that “the time between the first reading of the bill two weeks ago, the continuation of the discussion on the bill after two weeks in committee and further openness to work and discussion of amendments is probably not too fast.”
– If so, I can only remind you of a sentence that is mentioned very often in this debate, that prosperity comes from work. It so happens that the well-being of citizens also comes from the work of us, MPs. And I think it's good that we commit to this work, and some people just start doing it, she added.
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