Polish bishops favour outright ban on Sunday shopping

"Free Sundays is what all Catholics, non-Catholics and non-believers need,” Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, head of the Polish Episcopate, has said, as quoted by IAR.

He was speaking ahead of a meeting of Poland’s diocesan bishops during which they plan to discuss issues including a proposal to ban shopping on Sundays.

In July, a Polish trade union leader rejected calls to relax a proposal -- filed by his union and several other organisations in parliament last year -- to ban shopping throughout the country on Sundays and urged its passage through parliament, according to IAR.

Piotr Duda, leader of the Solidarity trade union, told IAR at the time that his union did not agree to "any further concessions” amid a push to restrict trade on Sundays in Poland.

"Four free Sundays [a month], period, end of story," Duda said, as quoted by IAR.

He made the comment after an organisation representing some of Poland’s retailers suggested that grocery stores across the country should be allowed to keep their doors open every Sunday, while employees could be provided with guarantees of at least two free Sundays a month. (str)

Source: IAR