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p4 weekender december 13 1986 ii i n inn miiinimg taaaamm renonm men how not to carry on talks the current contract dispute be tween the york region roman catholic school board and its teachers federations is a classic ex ample of how not to negotiate in good faith both sides seem to be using semantics to take pot shots at each other and we cant see how this will aid reaching a fair settlement it will just leave a bad taste in every ones mouth take the teachers as an example they are claiming that the issue isnt money they want smaller classes and more preparation time all of which cost more money and create more teacher jobs in york region the board has taken the high road by buying advertising in local news papers disputing the teachers claims the board is saying that the teachers cannot have substantial salary increases and expect smal ler classes and extra preparation time too unfortunately the board people wont make further comment on the negotiations to clarify the matter both sides it seems are trying each in its own way to manipulate the media all of which does little to serve the best interests of the taxpayers in york region who deserve to know the real truth after all their chil dren and their dollars are at stake here sunday opening makes me angry okay its time to get serious folks after all this page is headed by a rather large comment printed up top now it takes a pretty hefty kick to my value structure to get me aroused to the point where i want to go public with an opinion however the spectre of sunday store open ings has me all cranked up and rar ing to stand up and fight or at least posture a little sure it may be easy to justify the apparent need for turning the tradi tional day of rest into just another shopping day all you would have to do is point to the throngs of people who patronize stores and attrac tions currently keeping sunday business hours after all in a democracy the majority rules right and a recent gallup poll did show that 53 per cent of canadians are in favor of allow ing stores to open their doors on the seventh day of the week yes ill even grant you that there are plenty of businesses and admis sioncharging events that seem ideally suited to sunday stores to name just a few j conomist sun when the stouffville sales barn decided to open on sundays a little while back i found it hard to sym pathize with the cry of outrage from many in the community flea mar kets are strictly a weekend phe nomenon and are as much an ex cuse for a family outing in the coun try as they are a regular shopping trip certain small shops that deal in crafts and related goods have al ways lent themselves to sunday traffic and i believe the powers that be have always recognized this fact so while my opposition to the re cent move towards mass sunday openings may seem to an extent hypocritical i feel that there is a world of difference between what has been allowed up until now and this acrosstheboard stuff we seem to be heading for now certainly there should be a little more consistency to the law than we have seen in the past un fair advantage shouldnt be gained by stores who would bend the rules to qualify for exemption from the lords day act what we have emerging now in a way is a gas war mentality in the retail industry where everyone is trying to get the edge on the com petition no matter how short lived that edge may be somebody decides to do some thing outrageous to get attention to establish their business in the minds of the consumers this can be done either by price slashing to the point where a loss is actually taken or by being first to offer something revolutionary like sunday shopping unfortunately everyone else is forced to follow suite in order to pro tect their share of the market and nobody is any further ahead thats because there are only so many dollars out there to spend thats why it is so important to have laws that establish the rules of the game so everyone has an equal chance of competing for those dol lars if all the retail giants are told they must remain closed on sunday none will be tempted to tamper with a tradition i feel is very much worth keeping the lords day act and the busi ness retail holidays act are to my way of thinking the few remaining positive reinforcements for the family and for sanity in general sunday has managed to survive as the pause between the week-to- week routine not for everyone but for the majority it is a day that forces the work aholics among us to seek diversion and recreation to throw on those old jeans and relax or tend to neg lected house hold chores forget the rat race for a day the never ending pursuit of the buck take the family to church or go visit relatives or friends surely the family has taken enough of a kicking with so many old values having been dismissed as outdated there is a price to pay for this brave new world thinking sunday openings can only make family life less viable than it has already become do you want a world where you have tuesday and friday off while your wife gets monday and thurs day where do the kids fit in think about it what starts with store openings is bound to spread elsewhere into other areas of busi ness and commmerce once we lose sunday its gone for good im not buying it i hope you dont either end of lecture tfflm the tribune weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 published every saturday by melroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd mar kham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 second class mail registration number 1247 the markham economist and sun published every wednesday and saturday at 9 heritage rd markham is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicoke advertiserguardian georgetown independent milton champion mississauga news newmarket era 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