Rejection for work on Sundays outside of systemically important areas.
The alliance for the Sunday off sees its concern, the preservation of the Sunday off, all the more important, especially in times of the corona pandemic. The pressure on people has already increased due to more work pressure, high unemployment, insecurity and fears, but the non-working Sunday must be maintained as an oasis of calm and an opportunity for togetherness and relaxation, the representatives pleaded on Monday at an online press conference.
The alliance, founded 20 years ago, is an alliance of mainly church and employee organizations, but the Austrian Brass Music Association and Naturefriends are also involved. She is collecting signatures on a petition https://www.freiersonntag.at/unterstuetze-uns/ and has carried out a survey.
Accordingly, six out of ten Austrians want to keep their work-free Sunday as free time together and are not prepared to work regularly on Sundays. Among women with children, the rejection of Sunday work rises to 74 percent. Almost 60 percent also do not want the working week to be more flexible and would not accept the cancellation of the weekend rest in favor of more individual days off.
According to the survey, the advantages of working-free Sundays are the ability to plan – many have free at the same time – and the quieter, less stressful life. A third named festivals and religious celebrations that take place on Sundays. By the way, according to the survey, Saturday is used the most for online purchases, not Sunday. For the study, 1,000 people between the ages of 16 and 69 throughout Austria were interviewed.
In surveys of trade employees, well over 90 percent are in favor of receiving the free Sunday, added ÖGB President Wolfgang Katzian. “Many people yearn for deceleration in Corona times, they need the Sunday off to be able to switch off and clear their heads,” said the top union. In view of the increasing psychological stress for employees and their fear of the job or the worries of the unemployed, a piece of security is all the more important now. In the delivery industry, where bogus self-employed people often have to work around the clock, the union demands general contractor liability for subcontracting. In this way, the client should be liable to the subcontractors for compliance with labor law by the deliverer.
Jana Zuckerhut from the platform for single parents referred to the situation of single parents. Especially for this group, the free time is very limited. Working on Sunday would mean that the children would have to be put in childcare and would then have no free time at all. “Do we need more profit or more time for one another, with family, friends or even for yourself?” she asked.
Chamber of Labor President Renate Anderl explained that people would not spend more money in this difficult time even with shops open on Sunday. Many are very concerned about the future and therefore do not have any major consumer spending. People needed rest and time for family, friends and themselves.
This is guaranteed by the common free time on Sunday, which is for many people off work. Due to the increased home office in the corona pandemic, the line between work and leisure during the week is blurring anyway, so relaxation on Sunday is all the more important. “Many women and men keep our community going on Sunday anyway, I don't see why there should be more.”
The Viennese superintendent of the Evangelical Church AB, Matthias Geist, recalled the historical dimension. On March 3, 321, Emperor Constantine issued an edict that made a work-free Sunday mandatory. “This break is a real anchor of life”, it is not about party politics but about human dignity.
Bishop Alois Schwarz added that without a free Sunday there would only be working days. “It is a day against the enslavement of man, against the exploitation of creation”. For many people, Sunday is also a working day, for example in care, in the hospital or in the catering trade. “We should also be vigilant that Sunday is a special day for those who have to work, that it is not aligned with the days of the week.”
