Silvan Shalom pushes for Sunday as weekend

"People want to go shopping on Friday for their Saturday meals. So let them do their shopping on Thursday."

Minister of Galilee and Negev Development Silvan Shalom today presented his proposal for a long weekend of Saturday and Sunday to the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. He proposes that the workday on Friday end at 2 pm during daylight savings time, and at 1 pm during winter.

Shalom unveiled his plan to "Globes" in late February.

"Anyone who claims that Friday won't be a productive workday vis-à-vis overseas is wrong," said Shalom. He went on, "Part of the objections to the initiative is psychological. People want to go shopping on Friday for their Saturday meals. So let them do their shopping on Thursday, and some Saturday hosting will be postponed to Saturday night.

"Everything will be different, and we'll need time to adapt. We'll also have to reopen collective agreements with public sector workers, but there are a lot of advantages to a long weekend. It will make the capital market more efficient because there won't be such arbitrage gaps with foreign markets."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 17, 2011

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011

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