Letter: Think of workers in making shopping hours decision

Editor’s note: The following is an open letter to Mayor Brian Bigger and Greater Sudbury city council.

First, I want to congratulate you on the outcome of the election. You are now the municipal leaders of our city.

Over the course of the next four years, Greater Sudbury is depending on each of you to work together and make difficult decisions. At this time, I think that it is important to note that difficult decisions are not always going to be easy or popular.

For example, I’m writing today about the proposal to change our city’s bylaw regarding shopping hours. During casual conversations, this seems like a utopian win-win for everyone: store owners can pick and choose the hours they wish to stay open; Greater Sudburians can shop any time they like; and, retail workers will have more opportunities to pick and choose a more flexible schedule.

What isn’t being discussed are the more difficult issues such as: the issues with small businesses’ ability to compete; the issues with the impact to family and personal lives; the issues with worker safety at night — including night-time transportation, and, the issues with the health effects of shift-work.

The fact is, shift work is a reality for many workers in Sudbury.

In fact, my family and I have lived that inconvenient lifestyle. I did shift work for more than a decade. However, just because we were inconvenienced doesn’t make it OK for others to be inconvenienced, too.

As our city council, we are depending on you to make decision based on your knowledge of the many issues associated with retail workers doing shift work.

Jamie West
president, Sudbury and District Labour Council