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Shopworkers in Finland do not want to work at late nights or on Sundays. This becomes clear from a recent study commissioned by UNI Commerce affiliate PAM. Employers have insisted that the union misrepresents the opinions of its members when it opposes an extension of shop opening hours.

- The study shows unambiguously that the union has consequently spoken for its membership, said PAM president Ann Selin when she presented it yesterday in Helsinki. - The clear majority of the sales personnel in retail stores do not see any need to expand shop opening hours, she said. - On the contrary, almost half of them would like to cut even the present hours.

Today, stores in Finland can trade until 21.00 on weekdays. In addition, they can be open during a restricted time on a certain number of Sundays, mainly in the summer and just before Christmas.

Both late evening work and work on Sundays irritate both shop workers and store supervisors. Their biggest concern is that they have less time for their families, and for social contacts. These retail professionals also say that the last hours are not profitable.

When employers want to keep the stores open as long as possible, this is being done on very low staffing levels, the Finnish study tells. This creates a the feeling of insecurity, both at work and travelling home.

Most respondents would not want to work at all on Sundays (28 per cent) or only on a few Sundays every year (29 per cent).

Ann Selin points at still another result, a clear majority of shop workers (57%) believe that there would not be enough workers prepared to work on Sundays, would this work be expanded. This is contrary to many of the recent speculations in media, she says. There has been a largely employer-driven media campaign to liberate opening hours completely.

Most Finnish shop workers accept working on a few Sundays before Christmas. This is related to the high bonus for Sunday work, 100 per cent, which brings an important additional income to permanent part-time workers. If the bonus would be removed, as some employer representatives have indicated that they would like to, only 14 per cent of the workers would prepare to come to work on a Sunday.