Foxy: You say, "Actually, they can force you to work Sunday's if you
want to keep your job that is. And who doesn't?"

In a free market, if you made it a condition of your employment contract that you will not work Sundays, then no they can't make you work on Sunday's without being in breach of contract. And as with any contract that you make, when the other party breaches it you can sue them.

Foxy: You say, "We were forced to work Sundays and no one asked us whether we wanted to or not. We were simply rostered to do it - and when our turns came - we just did it in order to keep our jobs."

So in this case, if it were in a free market, either the contract you where employed under (and that you freely agreed to) had the condition that you are expected to work on Sundays or else they would have been in breach. And if they were in breach you can take court action.

Foxy: You say, "Try telling your boss - nope I'm not working Sundays. Everyone else is, but I choose not to.

Telling you boss that you won't work Sundays is EXACTLY what you do!! BUT you do it when you're negotiating your pay and conditions at the start of your employment (or at the contract renewal). Now, if the potential employer doesn't come to the table on the issue then no contract is formed and you don't work for them. What you can't do is agree to work Sundays in the contract then refuse to work Sunday's once employed- because now you are in breach.

Foxy: You say, "I wonder how long you're going to keep your job - with that attitude."

You will keep your job as long as the conditions agreed to in the contract are not breached. And you will also find that at the end of the contract if you do your job better and cheaper than other candidates then you will most likely be offered to renew your contract.

thinkabit,

I've been there done that. However, I guess it
depends on your profession. I 'm in one that
working on Sundays is par for the course - free
market or not and bargaining or not.
It is simply part and parcel of the job. Not every
Sunday - but definitely a rostered one and if you
refused you would not get hired. Simple as that.
You can negotiate all you want - it's simply a
requirement. And if you want a job - you're
expected to do it. There's not enough professional
staff to go around. You're expected to do your share.

Well, everyone seems to be right...

What is missing so far in this discussion, is the safety-net, whereby no one is ever required to work under conditions that are unacceptable to them. Accordingly, if you cannot find a boss that agrees to let you go on the dates that are most important to you, then you might become poor yet your children will not starve. When a principle is important enough for you, you must be prepared to become poor for it, but you should not be required to choose between sacrificing your most sacred principles or having your family starve to death.

While bosses are not obliged to meet your conditions, they are not inherently your enemies and many will respect you and your wishes if you are clear about them yourself and produce them upfront, politely of course: "Sorry, I am not available for work on Sundays [or during certain hours therein] because I have an important weekly appointment with God".

You may be surprised by all the creative possibilities that goodwill can provide. You could for example become responsible to hire someone else on Sundays to take your place, making you simultaneously both an employer and an employee.

If you want Sundays off join the public service, what ever you do, don't join the tourist industry.

I had been working 11 hour days, 6 & sometimes 7 days a week for about 18 months in the Whitsunday marine tourist industry. The money was lousy, but it was a good lifestyle for me at the time.

I had finished a contract & was taking some time off to do some needed maintenance on my yacht. One afternoon the cruise boat from one of the smaller island resorts appeared behind my yacht at Airlie Beach, & invited me aboard for a beer. The skipper told me their second skipper had left, & he asked me to go down once a week to run this boat to give him a day off.

It was my favorite resort so yes I'd love to. There was only one slight problem. To run the boat on Tuesday for example I had to go down Monday afternoon & back up Wednesday. When they wanted a second day it tied me up as much as a full job.

They suggested I take the yacht down there, I could use their excellent workshop to do my maintenance work, & eat ashore if I liked. Wow, this would be great.

Well it would have been if they hadn't found they wanted much more than a couple of days a week. I did 10, 12 hour days straight then one day off, 28 days straight, including 2 outer reef 4 & 5 day fishing & dive trips, got a day off, then 24 days straight, then quit. Those outer reef trips get very tiring when you are on duty effectively 24 hours a day.

Continued

Continued.

I was running water skying one morning for the guests, & a couple of waitresses asked if they could have a sky, or come on the sky boat. Sure no problem. They told me they did breakfast from 7.30 to 9.00 or so, had a couple of hours break, then lunch, then dinner after a longer break. They worked about 8 hours but from 7.30AM to about 9.00PM, for 6 days a week. No wonder there was a fair turnover among them. The work & the island life was fun for a while, but did get tiring.

Most of us wouldn't have known if it was Sunday.

Sounds to me like the Unions are running low on funds so, they start their old game of disruption again !
thinkabit, are you their sounding board ?