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-: ;I WMMTY FREE PRESS, WEDNEEDAY, JULY 11, 1990, PAGE 17 mee uL mL Whitby FROM PAGE 1 stores and retail outiets located in shopping maIls. random sm nof down- tewn merchants ounà only the owner- of a women's clothingý store seriously considering open- he owner- was too busy pre- paring for last week's downtown sidewalk> sale tô discuss the issue,,but said shewa thinking of opening next Sund'ay. jAudrey Piper oner of Go Natural health Iod s'tore,. is one merchant who will not be open Sundays. «Sunday is the only dayI gt te do what 1have teo ' m here six days a week,» said Piper. «I can't see small stores'being open, we're -already played out as far as time is concerned.» Piper, however, is not opposed te Sunday shopping. «It's up. te t he individual what they want te do with their own business » said Piper. «ci thià ay u have te be money hungry te b open seven days a week. As niuch as I like money, I also like te live. » Judy Morgan,- owner of Judy's Flowers and GiWst, shared Pip'er's feelings. % «I won't be opening. Je pre open six day s a week. I ave a faxnily and I like te be home te enjoy them,» said Morgan. Moran also feels the decision te open Sundays should be left te store owners, rather than by government decree. " If I was in a tourist area and only deait with seasonal trade I would consider it,-but being downtewn and open ail year long is different.» The possibility of having to 0pen Sundays te keep her s hare of the market does not changeý Moran' thinking. m eb open. If~ you offer good products and ser1vice,. people wilI find a IaLItcome in." RalphSchroetter, owner of Gems Custom Jewellery, has no plans te, open. "Six days a week is good enough,» said Schroetter. However, being-open Sundays is not the issue that will deter- mine ý the. financial health of downownstores according to Schroetter. « If they ever* build the big shopping maîl north of Rossland we might as" well pack up and move away,» said Schroetter. (Greymar Development Corp. isý planning te, build a major indoor shopping plaza north- of the Town hall on Rossland Rd)'1 Schroetter said the downtewn suffers from a'lack of "impulse» shoppers and desparately needs sornething te attract them. «People com e downtown for specifics, there,,are no casual, impulse shoppers.' "*We need something like Cobourg, where people'feel like shopping downtown. I don't shop downtown Whitby I go to Cobourg, it's got àa ch, to it. «We don't have anything here. We've got a couple of nice 'bouti- ques and that's about it.» Bill Brant, owner of Burtinsky and Brant Florists, said he wii only open if everyone else is.» Hie. doubts downtewn mer- chants will respond. «positively» to Sûnday opening. «A lot of local owners are working more hours now them- selves because of - the economy," said Brant. Brant also believes that open- ing Sundays should be a matter of personal choice. "'How many . countries in the world aren't open Sunday? It should have> been done years ago,» said Brant. Durhiam ]Region (hairman GayHerremîî was disappointed loclrtaiers chose to follw the provincial trenid. «We wiIl have to make ad»just- ments, this Niii mean a shie in community lEfe and services," said Herrema. «Not only will itý mean more people worki Igbut more people ýworkingtp'gç them there.e .Herrema E7)efrred to the in- crease in pi4blic transit, police and other sl4pport services that will be necessary should Sunday become like i4ny other day of the week. «,rm not soi sure the provinceis not somewhat to blame for the folly we're in,» said Herrema,, referring, *o the government's decision to leave the matter up to local municipalities. «I, think o~n Sundaây not only will the collection plates be fuil but the cash; registers will ring,» hie added.1 1Durham 6èentre MPP Allan Furlong waý also sad to see the Sunday openings. «rPm not a big fan of Sunday- s hopping, there's extra expense, peéoplFewMorking, I hope some stores wiIl stay closed, said Fur- However, Fuirlong feels the rejected Sunday closing law was a good piece of le slation. Ithought the law.we had was good, there was the local option. Niaara Falls wanted it te com- pete with New York, but there was no need for it here.» Furlong did not wish te speu- late on. what will happen should the Court of Appeal uphold the earlier ruling. "If the court decides it's uncon- stitutional I think we'll have te rework it.» Furlong said he received onlv one calI from a group of employees who t gt they ewould be forced »e Ã" rSunday, but as it turnd o.! they wereé not. Although the law stipulates that employeesa can refuse te workSunàýr, aunion snesa- man said it's not that simpfe. 1Stephen White, communiuca- tions officer'for thÈeý United Food and Commercial 'Workers, said his union. has opposed Sunday shopping since day one., «Eýven though the law saysyou don't have te work, we feel they. can be compelled or be put i fa situation where they're no longer the favorites of employers,» said White. «Hours can be'cut or. different- duties as-signed.» According te the Employ*ment' Standards Act, employees mn the' retail trade cani refuse. an y assignmnent of Sunday 'work which they deem unreasonable. ,If.there is' a disagreement bet- ween management and workers, eithrParty can apply te the Ministr f aor's employment standards branch for settlement of the dispute. If -a settlement cannot be rea-. ched, a referee is appointed and his decsion is binding. As for remuneration, for work- ing Sundays, Ontario law states that anyone working more than 44 hours in one week is entitled te 112 times their regular pay.. There is nothing contained in the legislation specifically per- taining te pgiyment for iworkijng Sundays.. As long as an employeis willing te work Sundays , /she, can be p aid regular wages pro- vided tÉhe- 44-hour. limit is. not exceeded. White said the union has neyer fought. the issue *on religlous ,grounds, but on the need- for a "comnüon pauseý" day. «Some of lour members Want te wrtey like th extra money, but th0»ijriyare, ?Pposed.' Those with'fii-is don't -hke be on caîl sevýen days a week.»' Aniong the many thousarids of Ontario ý,orkers represented by the union are those employed at 'A &PI, Loblaws ancj Miracle Food Mart grocery stores. White said the public niay not realize just how extensively wicle-open Sundays Will' affect sodcety. «On Sundays try te find day- care. Transportation, ambu- lances, policé and allother ser- vices will have te be bumped, up because.of more, people ýworking.' An intieresteBd observer of the Sundayý shopping, issue is Don Scrimgeour, owner of Mr. Grocer on Broëk St. S-. 1Scrimgeour and- the previous store- owner have opened Mr. Grocer on Sundays for the past six years; Scrimgeour has owned the store for'little more than a year. Up until March 30 the only way the store could legally open was te, block off aisles in order te, conform te size specifications contained ini previous Sunday closing laws. 1 But under the Retail Business -Holidays Act, stores were no longer able te, close off aisles. «Without, Sunday chances are this store would not survive,» said Scrimgeour, who preferred not te disclose the volume of business he does on Sundays. « if everyone closed on Sunday this store-would be fine.» .Other than' himself, Scrini- geour said the -store is staffed only by part-time employees on Sundays. «They're high school students who want double-time -and the hour.s,» said Scrimgeour.