New Sudbury store hours: 24-hour shopping worrisome to workers

Sudbury stores are already extending their hours, just days after city council struck down its controversial bylaw.

And the city's first experiment with 24-hour shopping begins tonight.

The Real Canadian Superstore in Sudbury is open for business — and it will not close for the next 12 days. The grocery store will eventually shut off its lights at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.        

The 200 employees there are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Regional director Chris Fuller said Superstore workers are nervous about the new 24-hour reality.

"Instead of finishing their shift at 9 or 10 at night, they could be finishing their shift at 4 a.m.. They could be starting their shift at 1 a.m. This is new ground for our members. They're not used to this."

But Fuller's union also represents workers at 24-hour grocery stores in Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and North Bay, and says the initial worry in Sudbury will likely fade away.

Many of those all-night stores are run by Metro, which hasn't decided yet if it will do the same with its Sudbury locations.

Walmart has decided to extend the hours at its two stores in the city, but just for a few extra hours on Sundays.

The New Sudbury Shopping Centre plans to be open on Boxing Day for the first time.

Employment lawyer Zaheer Lakhani said Sudbury retail workers will be able to choose whether they work the holiday or not.

"People think that an employer has this power to force an employee to work a statutory holiday, all they have to do is pay them extra,” he said.

“Where the irony is, it's very a clear that an employee actually has a say as to whether they work or not."

But Fuller counters the law is not often followed.

"Legally, yeah, they all have the right to say no, I don't want to work on Boxing Day. But we all know how it works in the real world."

Fuller says his union regularly files grievances on behalf of retail workers who have been forced to work stat holidays.

Whether late night shopping becomes the norm remains to be seen.

In years past, several Sudbury pharmacies tried being open until midnight, before scaling back their hours. Chapters successfully lobbied the city in 1999 to be able to stay open until 11, but shortly after went back to closing at 10 pm.