Protect the work-free Sunday!
2018-03-02 12:00
On the occasion of the European Day for a Work-Free Sunday on March 3, the European Sunday Alliance calls on all its supporters to take action against Sunday Work.
The Sunday as a common weekly day of rest is under pressure in Europe. Online shopping offered around the clock, a tendency towards permanent availability of workers due to mobile devices as well as the increasing use of on-call time and the increasing opening of shops, especially in tourist areas on Sundays, endanger not only the work-free Sunday as a common day of rest but also common free time and a rest period from a purely economic-driven lifestyle.
The European Sunday Alliance is convinced that working on Sundays endangers the health and safety of workers as well as the social cohesion in our societies. The challenge of reconciling increasingly flexibilised working schedules with social and civic commitments had just been discussed at the last breakfast meeting of the Interest Group Work-Life Balance in the European Parliament on 22 February 2018.
Only a well-protected common work-free day per week enables citizens to enjoy full participation in cultural, sports, social and religious life and allows for reconciliation. That is why the European Sunday Alliance commits itself to safeguarding a work-free Sunday.
The European Sunday Alliance calls on all its members and on all citizens to take action on 3 March 2018 as the European Day for a work-free Sunday with special activities, Church services and information points in order to raise awareness about the unique value of Sunday for the European society and the importance of common free time in a digitalised society.
The European Sunday Alliance is a network of national Sunday Alliances, trade unions, employers’ organisations, civil society organisations, churches and religious communities committed to raise awareness of the unique value of synchronised free time for our European societies. CESI has been a member of the Alliance since 2017.
Logos: European Sunday Alliance/CESI logos © European Sunday Alliance 2018/CESI 2018
