In the small Migros Daily branch on Zollstrasse, not far from the main train station, there are only self-checkout tills. Sales personnel are nowhere to be seen on Sunday.
Migros opened this so-called “unmanned store” in October 2020. Now, however, Migros is losing to the Unia trade union, which took legal action against this concept. Because here, too, it’s not possible to do without staff on Sundays.
Employees at the nearby branch in Central Station’s Shopville restock bread and baked goods. The remaining goods are already on the shelves on Saturdays – but this is not possible with bread. Then it would no longer be fresh.
However, the administrative court does not accept this exception for bread and baked goods, as can be seen from the judgment, which the “NZZ” also reported on Tuesday.
This procedure is a softening of the Sunday work ban. Even if Migros did not sell bread and baked goods, it would not get away with it.
The reason for this is the security staff who monitor the tills, turn away “uninvited” customers and keep the store a bit clean, for example if a pack falls down. In addition, this employee must switch lights and alarms on and off and place trash cans and an “Open” sign in front of the store.
“Migros can’t get through with their attempt”
There are special permits for security personnel. However, these would not apply in this case, writes the administrative court. If the store weren’t open, there wouldn’t be a need for security personnel.
The Sunday permit from the cantonal Office for Economics and Labor (AWA) for the “Unmanned Store” is thus revoked. The Unia Zurich-Schaffhausen trade union welcomes the administrative court’s decision. “Migros will not succeed in trying to replace the sales staff with security,” said Unia spokeswoman Nicole Niedermüller on request.
It was another attempt to overturn the ban on Sunday work. Migros can still take the case to the federal court. Until there is a final judgment, the shop will remain open on Sundays, without sales staff, but with security. (SDA)