New plan for shopping hours next week

Labour Minister Antonis Vassiliou said that he is ready to submit a “fair yet radical” bill of legislation to regulate shopping hours and types of stores some time next week.

He said that he will submit the document to the Council of Ministers and if approved will be sent to the House Trade Committee for discussion and later tabled to the House assembly for final approval.

The Minister said that not everybody will be fully satisfied with the results that followed a lot of compromises, but that the new plan will be in harmony with the needs of the vast majority of the consumers and workers an in line with the modern-day needs of the retail sector.

The association of supermarket owners want to be allowed to remain open until late at night every day, as is the case of the stores in the tourist areas of the seaside towns. But they also want some kind of control over the kiosks and some bakeries that have become mini-markets.

On the other hand, the small shopkeepers association, POVEK, is determined to block any liberalization of working hours and has found a strong ally in the left-wing PEO trade union that wants more pay for less work.