About

The Take the Time campaign is about protecting our handful of remaining public holidays as special days when workers can truly take time off to enjoy with family and friends.

Our campaign opposes attempts by retailers, their peak representative bodies and government to remove the protection for retail closures on key public holidays such as Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day (half day).

Currently retailers can trade almost 99% of the time. We’re asking these special days remain protected so retail workers can spend time with their family and friends.

Take the Time is a partnership between SDA NSW and Newcastle branches.  It is working with members, concerned community members, other unions and their members, religious leaders and civil society groups to protect the small number of special days in the year for retail workers and their families.

Our aims

The aim of the campaign is to protect the last remaining special trading-free days we enjoy each year.

In late 2015, the NSW Government introduced changes to the Retail Trading Act 2008 (NSW) to allow for a trial of retail trading on Boxing Day.

Shops wishing to participate in this trial were restricted by a condition – all employees working on Boxing Day must be volunteers. However, despite this safeguard for workers, research conducted by the SDA indicates that many employees who worked the Boxing Day shift did so reluctantly or against their wishes.

The Take the Time campaign strongly opposes moves to permanently allow stores to open their doors on Boxing Day – or any of our other last few remaining trading-free days.

If we do not protect these special days we will inevitably have nothing left.

How will we as a community credibly argue that our public holidays are important or cherished if we treat them like any other day of the week when employees are forced to work, missing valuable time with family and friends.

How will we as a community defend the special status of Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day if workers do not have the right to refuse to work on these days?

Check out some of the myths about retail trading here.