Morrisons manager makes impassioned plea for staff to get Boxing Day off this year

A store manager at Morrisons has anonymously spoken out to urge his bosses to let staff have Boxing Day off.

The dad-of-one is urging bosses to consider closing on Boxing Day, as this year has been especially tough, with two lockdowns and harsh coronavirus restrictions in place.

Throughout all this, supermarkets have remained open, coping with panic buyers and sometimes dealing with abuse and anger from the public, as they try to do their jobs.

Jim Barton / Geograph

The dad-of-one lives near Sevenoaks in Kent, which like Greater Manchester is currently in Tier 3, and is a senior member of staff at a Morrisons store in the local area.

As part of his mission to reach out to the CEOs and directors at Morrisons to convince them to let workers spend time with loved ones over Christmas, he spoke to KentLive.

He told them: “The staff will be grateful to have Boxing Day off.

“Our people have worked all throughout since March, and back in the beginning people were coming in and ripping the shelves apart, and that was scary to see.

“Boxing Day sales will only cause more people to come out, and there will be no social distancing. People should be spending the day with their family.”

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The 45-year-old also talked about how tough 2020 has been for frontline workers, adding that they deserve a break.

He said: “The message is all retail should shut, especially after the year we’ve all had and the government relaxing restrictions over Christmas.

“In Kent we have the highest restrictions and it would just be nice to spend two days with our families.”

A Morrisons spokesman confirmed stores would be remaining open, saying: We will be opening our stores on Boxing Day for a limited number of hours to help our customers.

“The wellbeing of our colleagues remains a key priority to us and our stores are working hard to ensure all colleagues get a meaningful break during the Christmas period so they can spend quality time with their family, friends or loved ones.

“Working on Boxing Day is voluntary for our colleagues and they receive double pay and time back in lieu.”