Croatian Caritas and the Croatian Institute for Culture and Peace in Split recently inaugurated the campaign “Shops open on Sunday Commerce in the life of man”, which includes a petition to Parliament and Government urging approval of a law that would ban commercial activities on Sundays and during religious holidays. With the support of the Episcopal Conference of Croatia and various national commercial associations, the campaign symbolically began on 1st May with the collection of signatures; Msgr. Vlado Kosic, auxiliary bishop of Zagreb, was the first to sign the petition. “The campaign aims to draw attention to the plight of some 40,000 workers currently deprived of the right to enjoy a day of weekly rest, who fear losing their jobs if they defend their right not to work on Sundays”, explains Mario Bebic, head of Croatian Caritas. Some eighty “towns are involved in the two-week campaign; and 1,500 parishes”. According to the president of the Mercantile Union of Croatia, Ana Knezevic, “these 40,000 workers produce 25,000 hours of overtime, generally unpaid, which could signify 12,000 new jobs”. “Hitherto said Knezevic the government has not taken any measures to discourage employers from working on Sundays; the situation is serious because 75% of workers forced to work on Sundays consist of women, for the most part mothers of families”.
