Retail is a low paid, high stress working environment and workers are now being told that the few guaranteed days of rest, time to spend with their families, are being taken from them. Bylaw No. 2014-27 was recently passed by The Regional Municipality of York, granting an exemption to the Retail Holiday Act, permitting Cadillac Fairview shopping centres to remain open on statutory holidays. Beginning 2014, shopping centres including Hillcrest in Richmondhill, Upper Canada in Newmarket, Promenade Mall in Thornhill and Markville Mall in Markham will remain open New Years Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and Thanksgiving. Malls such as Hillcrest have been recognized as tourist destinations, allowing them to remain open during holidays.The argument, of course, is that by allowing smaller malls to remain open, the retail playing field will be levelled. However, the location of these malls are not near major highways and do not receive high traffic from foreign visitors. There is no reason for these shopping centres to remain open other then making a few extra dollars at the expense of workers. The Retail Holiday Act was passed for a reason, to protect workers from big businesses who are interested in one thing: making money. A holiday is defined as a day of festivity, a day off work. What is a holiday if we are forcing workers to work on these days?Mayor Robert Grossi, rgrossi@georgina.ca