NEWS RELEASE
Friday 27 August 2004
Time for a Debate on Bank Holidays at Holyrood - STUC The autumn half-term, the national saint's days of England, Scotland and Wales, and New Year's Eve are the most popular choices for the three new bank holidays that the TUC is campaigning for, according to the results of an online vote on the TUC's world of work website published today (Friday).
Following the TUC research, which indicates workers preferences for bank holiday's, Scottish TUC Assistant Secretary, John Park said:
"This would be an interesting issue to take forward at Holyrood which would be sure to capture the imagination of the Scottish people."
Dennis Canavan MSP intends on introducing a bill in the Scottish Parliament to establish a St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday in Scotland and in recent times finance sector employers have cut back on a traditional Scottish Bank Holiday on January 2nd. However, following a concerted campaign by finance union Unifi, many employers were forced to accept there was no demand for services on that day.
"Clearly there needs to be a wider debate on Bank Holidays and obviously the business community will have views. However good employers recognise that quality planned time away from work can boost productivity and performance."
The TUC figures show that the UK economy could quite comfortably absorb the creation of three new public holidays to bring the UK into line with the EU average of 11 days a year
ENDS
For further details, contact
John Park
Tel: 0141 337 8100 / Fax: 0141 337 8101 www.stuc.org.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS:
In the UK, there is currently no statutory right to take a bank holiday off, to be paid for taking it off, or to be paid a premium rate for working on bank holidays. As a result one in eight workers (or just over three million people) find themselves losing out. When it comes to European bank holidays, only the Netherlands gives its workers as few public holidays as the UK, but Dutch workers benefit from more annual leave. With 11.35 days the average across the 25 European states, Slovakia with 18 has the most, closely followed by Cyprus on 14. Malta, Spain and Portugal grant their workers 14 days each year.
Following pressure from the TUC in the 1970s, the 1974-79 Labour Government introduced two additional bank holidays: New Year's Day (1974) and May Day (1978). Since then a number of 'one-off' public holidays have been created to celebrate special events like the 1981 Royal Wedding and last year's Golden Jubilee. Between 28 May and 13 August 2004, 19,469 people voted in the WorkSMART 'search for a new bank holiday' online vote. To find out more about the arguments for and against the creation of specific new bank holidays, visit www.worksmart.org.uk