Download - UFCW, Local 832

Presidential Comment
24/7 Shopping Will Erode Our Quality of Life
The idea of 24-hour, seven days a
week shopping isn’t a new concept.
Many parts of Canada have
24 hour shopping in large centres such
as Toronto, Ontario.
During the week before Christmas,
Wal-Mart Canada made the festive
choice to open nine Wal-Mart stores
across Canada for 72 straight hours
prior to the December 24 6 p.m.
closing. One of those stores was located
here in Winnipeg near an industrial
area of town where many residents
are employed in places that have shift
work. According to media reports
and our own survey of the Wal-Mart
parking lot, shoppers were lined up
at all hours and the Wal-Mart store
manager said it was a great success.
The argument that “the customers
want it, so we should give it to them”
seems a bit self-serving. I guess the definition of
success varies from person to person.
24-hour shopping will only increase strain
and health issues on working families. It is
a proven fact that non-standard work hours
disrupt what is called the circadian rhythm.
This is the internal clock that governs the way
our body functions. It affects body temperature,
blood pressure, brainwave patterns and hormone
levels. Simply put, during the day the body wants
to be awake and during the night it wants to
sleep. Reversing this natural order or extending
work hours excessively damages the body.
Some short-term health effects can include
heartburn/indigestion, fatigue, insomnia, and
depression/mood swings while some long-term
effects include heart problems, duodenal ulcers,
arthritis and weight problems. Less noted but
also a contributor to health problems is the
disruption to family and personal life that nonstandard
hours create.
Wal-Mart says they are just doing what their
customers want; their customers want to be able
to shop anytime/anywhere. I would like my mail
delivered twice a day and the ability to speak to
a building inspector at city hall at 3:30 in the
morning. Although these examples are extreme,
what they have in common is the added cost it
would create to obtain these wishes along with
the health and social issues noted above.
With 24-hour shopping comes the added cost
of operating expenses to the company that would
eventually trickle down to the consumer. Once a
Wal-Mart type store opened, it wouldn’t be long
before other businesses followed. Now, an unnecessary
competitive environment is created.
The bottom line is that the only purpose would
be to enhance larger multi-national corporations’
profits, while putting smaller businesses
in hardship and creating an unfair competitive
environment.
Concerned citizens should also think of safety.
Businesses will have the least amount of employees
on staff to maximize its profit margin.
These people, working in large 30-75,000 square
foot stores, will become targets to criminals and
undesirables. According to the Workers Health
and Safety Centre in Ontario, studies show that
serious accidents also happen more frequently
between the hours of 2 and 6 a.m.
Robert D. Ziegler,
President,
UFCW Local 832
When people were surveyed over the
holiday shopping time and responded
that they would welcome 24-hour
shopping, the next question should
have been, “Would you be willing to
work these late hours or allow your
son or daughter to work them with
minimal security and protection in an
environment like this?” Odds are,
people would start to think of the
ramifications 24-hour shopping would
have on citizens.
In union collective agreements, we
have provisions set in place for Sunday
shopping to allow for an hourly
premium and that working on Sundays
is to be voluntary. What would happen
to workers at Wal-Mart who aren’t
presently represented by our union?
Sure Wal-Mart says they wouldn’t make
anyone work midnights but with their
track record of employee relations it doesn’t take
a genius to realize it would only be a matter of
time before employees were given ultimatums to
work the night shift or be fired.
The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce
President was quoted in an article in the
Winnipeg Sun that I should support such
a change because with the added hours in
the shopping schedule it would mean more
members for our union. That is correct. It
would increase our membership if Safeway and
Westfair stores opened 24 hours, but our
union isn’t just driven by dues. It’s driven on
enhancing our members’ quality of life. Giving
our members a chance at 24-hour shopping, in
my eyes, doesn’t enhance anyone’s quality of
life.
2 UNION FEBRUARY 2006