Greece: trade industry agitated by the opening of stores on Sunday and the end of the collective agreement

On November 3, private sector workers did a general strike and demonstrated in Athens’ main shopping street to reassert their rights and protect Sundays off, questioned by a law adopted this summer.  Meanwhile, as negotiations for the renewal of the sector’s collective agreement were at a standstill, a protocol reached at the end of October gives the social partners until December 31 to reach an agreement, thus avoiding the termination of the rights included in the sectoral collective agreement.  (Ref.  130693)
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Work on Sunday. Adopted this summer, Act No. 4177/2013, particularly Article 16, provides for the possibility for all sorts and sizes of stores to open across the country on 7 Sundays that have already been defined: those before the 4 sales periods, the two Sundays before Christmas (instead of one) and Easter Sunday. Stores can open on other Sundays following a local decision. Act 4177/2013 was adopted to counter the 7.8 percent drop in retail sales in August 2013, topping off several month

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