Cardinal Hume: Shop staff should have rebelled

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Basil Hume, and the new Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, both say anti-social working hours and placing profit as priority is putting children's future under threat.

Hume: Children's future under threat.

Speaking on GMTV's Sunday Programme Cardinal Hume says: "Sometimes from early morning till late at night the children don't have contact with their parents and then when their parents come home, they're dog tired.

"Flexible hours are often, as I understand it, to suit the firm or the industry ... but not actually suiting what is important or possible for the family."

The bishop said society and the government should do all it could for the good of the family.

In an outspoken attack on modern employment practice Cardinal Hume says city traders should have refused to work over Christmas to prepare for the introduction of the euro.

Discrimination against the family

On the same programme, Bishop Jones, who was Tony Blair's personal choice to succeed David Sheppard, calls for an overhaul of the tax and benefits system to support the family.

He says: "The tax system is not neutral as far as the family is concerned, it is discriminating against the family. And we all know that when you have children, that's one of the most expensive times of your life.

"A salary which feeds one or two people ought to be taxed very differently from a salary that feeds four or five people," he said.