A federal court in Germany has struck down rules allowing shops in Berlin to open all four Sundays before Christmas. It declared formerly approved Sunday shopping regulations as unconstitutional and thus handed the appealing churches a partial victory.
Stores in Germany are allowed to open only 4 Sundays per year- the local state or Lander determine which dates they wish to allocate.
In 2006 the city state of Berlin – which is a Lander or state in its own right – which has the most to gain/or lose had obtained the right to allow its stores to remain open for 10 Sundays of the year. This included the last 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas – the most festive and religious and also the most lucrative time for small businesses – the years most shopping intensive period.
German churches protested against the ruling claiming that historically Sundays and holidays are supposed to be ‘days of rest and spiritual elevation.
On Tuesday, a federal constitutional court upheld that position partially and banned the opening of stores for four Sundays in a row. However the court did allow for store openings on several consecutive Sundays
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I think it is great that the courts will not allow stores to open in Germany. We are human beings and a day of rest is needed for the workers. Why should other people decide when they can have there family day? Retail workers can not decide when other people have there family days can they? We applaud this decision . We also have to take in consideration that with stores open another day our environment could suffer. More cars on the roads plus lights on another day. Way to go Germany, you have to have laws with out them there is no justice.
I can not imagine having no laws..business’s would not pay taxes. Employees would not get any vacation pay, Holiday pay, Holidays off. You name it, with out laws our workers would get screwed. Employees earn money for these business’s and this is what keeps them in business. Employees also vote for our government officials. The court did a good job and they should be congratulated.
In actual fact it was also a victory for the German unions because they were actually the driving force behind getting a ban put in place.
Funny Unions and Churches on the same side against Business!!