Given that it is Easter, let's think about Christmas. No, it's not an attempt to improve on my personal record set last year, when I wrote about Christmas in September. Actually, my reason for writing about Christmas in September is similar to my reason for writing about Christmas in April. Some things must happen in advance, or they will be too late.
Last year I was promoting the beautiful handmade cards made by Nature's Garden, a women's co-operative in the Philippines. A sustainable small business in an area devastated by landslides and floods, it provides much needed income for whole families. They needed the orders months ahead. Thanks in no small part to the generosity of readers, they received orders in plenty, for which they would like to convey heartfelt thanks.
Now, if only we could achieve a similar success, closer to home. At its recent conference, the trade union Mandate called for a guarantee of two consecutive days off at Christmas for shop workers. The proposal is so modest as to be almost funny. Two days to be spent with family and friends, to recover from servicing the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy, and to prepare to facilitate the madness of the sales. It is not very much to ask. What have we come to in this country if we cannot manage without shopping for two days? It may seem perverse indeed to discuss Christmas while we are preparing to bloat ourselves on Easter eggs, but decisions about Christmas opening will be made very soon, if they have not been made already. If the public does not make it clear that they do not want or approve of opening on St Stephen's Day, then we will have shops open on St Stephen's Day.
Mandate has 43,000 members, of whom 90 per cent are working in the retail sector.
Two-thirds of the membership are women, ranging in age from teenagers to middle aged. At a conservative estimate, half of them have children.
Presumably, at least half of the male members have children, too. Why should they be asked to leave their families behind, just so that we can stroll around nearly empty supermarket aisles? The reason Mandate wants a guarantee from employers is because almost nothing is offlimits any longer. There has been a progressive erosion of the concept of family time and leisure. When more than 15 years ago the idea of Sunday trading was mooted, unions such as Mandate were fighting a losing battle. Their own members, traditionally a low-paid sector, were mad to get at the triple-time pay on offer. Lifestyles were changing even then, so the public wanted access to Sunday shopping.
Certainly, triple time was on offer for a while, but pay became progressively less as new members entered the workforce. Today, workers are rostered for Sunday almost like any other day. Many workers only receive the minimum extra pay demanded by legislation. Part-time workers are particularly vulnerable. Add to this late-night opening, bank holiday opening, 24 four hour opening, and you have a system that has sacrificed the human needs of workers to the need to generate profit.
The retail trade is traditionally cut-throat, with low margins and vicious competition. Once one retail chain starts to open on St Stephen's Day, the others are bound to follow. There is only one thing that the retailers will listen to, and that is massive disapproval from customers. If all the retailers are put under pressure not to enter the next phase of this downward spiral, then we have some hope of success.
Luckily, we have a recent example of the power of customer pressure. Joanne Delaney was sacked from her job in Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt for refusing to remove a Mandate badge from her uniform. The public was genuinely shocked by this draconian gesture, and they made their displeasure known. People went in droves to Dunnes, to every branch, to say, "Enough is enough". People who are deeply suspicious of unions and who feel that they may have abused their power in the past still objected. There was even a protest outside a Dunnes Stores in Glasgow. Joanne was reinstated last month, and given her full back pay, including a Christmas bonus.
Of course, it is also appropriate to discuss Christmas at Easter, given that for a significant portion of the population they remain two of the most important Christian holy days. Do those for whom these dates retain religious significance really want to surrender them to consumer-fests? The Taoiseach asked us recently to think about the demands of citizenship, and not to leave it to others. This is one area where the sacred and secular can make valuable common cause, in an attempt to civilise our society.
Feeling frazzled must be the most common emotion experienced in the era of the Celtic Tiger. Frazzled, rushed people buy more. Everything from buying fast food, to convenience meals, to the "quick rush" supplied by a major splurge is more likely when people do not have adequate time to reflect and relax. Frazzled people do not have the energy to deal with bigger questions, such as the effect on the environment of our "slash and burn" consumption patterns.
But we might have the energy to raise our eyes to look at the faces of the people behind the till. Not everyone has benefited equally from the Celtic Tiger. Shop workers are one sector where pay is still low. Yet this is at a time when profits in the retail sector have never been higher. The average pay of a retail worker is €9 per hour. We might be squabbling about the significance of 1916, but it is doubtful if either those supporting Home Rule or the Rising ever foresaw an Ireland where retail therapy was the drug of choice, yet shop workers remained poorly paid. Most of us, whether motivated by sacred or secular reasons, are not too happy with that particular development, either.
So support Mandate's modest proposal. If you are the shy, retiring type, just jot a two-line note, stating that you support a minimum of two day's closure over Christmas, and when you next go shopping, ask the information desk to see that it gets to the manager. Oh, and have a happy Easter.