"We'd create a big problem for ourselves by banning work on Sundays"

Minister of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs Zoran Djordjevic said today at a press conference after the session of the Social and Economic Council that the decision to work on Sundays should be left to employers and workers to agree on as they see fit.

Djordjevic says the Constitution and the law make it possible to work on Sundays, while employers are required to provide workers with a day off.

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The agreement between the worker and the employer should be in the mutual interest - he stressed, adding that he agrees with the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic who opposes the initiative to ban work on Sundays.

The labor minister says that by banning work on Sundays we would create a problem for ourselves.

He also announced a working group to be set up soon to amend the Labor Law, which he said will be an opportunity to discuss the topic. He pointed out that a possible ban would negatively affect Serbian tourism, which is on the rise.

President of UGS Nezavisnost trade unions Zoran Stojiljkovic says that the issue of work on Sundays should not be focused on to this extent and that it should be a matter of collective bargaining, along with defining wages and possibly a network of on-duty stores.

Vice-president of the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia Dusko Vukovic says the unions want the law to say that Sunday is a day of rest, not that Sunday is "as a rule a day of rest," as is the case in current law. He stressed that demands to ban stores from opening on Sundays does not mean advocating for less work.

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(Telegraf Biznis/Tanjug)