BZO and Lugner join forces over Sunday opening

Shopping centre operator Richard Lugner has been fighting for Sunday opening hours in his shopping centre “Lugner City” in Vienna. He is now supported by the BZÖ and will lobby in Brussels for the extension of opening hours.

„I will go tho Brussels in June, together with representatives of the Berlin chamber of commerce and lobby for the extension of the opening hours”, Mr Lugner announced yesterday (Wed).

The BZÖ demands an extension of the permitted 72 opening hours to 90 hours per week. They want to create the possibility for shops to open on five Sundays and Bank holidays per year.

“We do not advocate a general opening on all Sundays. However, the business location Austria has to be modernised and secured”, stated Mr Bucher of BZÖ in a press conference with Richard Lugner.

The party wants to start a legislative initiative for the extension of opening hours in the National Council.

According to Mr Bucher, the Austrian trade loses a lot of revenue due to the online trade. In 2010, Austrians ordered goods worth 2.6 million Euros from abroad on the Internet.

Apparently, many young people such as students would like to work on Sundays in order to earn more money. The leader of the BZÖ said that the well-being of employees comes first.

“680,000 Austrians work regularly and one million Austrians work partly on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The health and tourism sectors are particularly affected.

“It needs to be voluntary work and it has to be legally stipulated that the employees definitely receive an extra pay on Sundays and holidays”, Mr Bucher stated.