Bosses urged to give staff day off

TUC chief Brendan Barber wants bosses to give workers the chance to celebrate the Jubilee
31 May 2012

Union leaders have issued a last-ditch plea to employers to allow workers time off to enjoy this weekend's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and not force staff to come in next Tuesday.

The TUC said special bank holidays such as the extra day off next week were not included in the statutory paid leave entitlement, so workers were relying on the goodwill of their employers to be off next Tuesday.

Most employers will allow staff to take the full break, but the union organisation said it was concerned that some "penny-pinching" bosses will treat Tuesday as a standard working day and expect their staff to come in as normal.

People having to work over the weekend, such as emergency services and retail staff, should be given an extra day's leave as well as overtime pay, the TUC urged.

General secretary Brendan Barber said: "The Diamond Jubilee weekend should be celebrated by everyone.

"But sadly hundreds of thousands of staff are likely to miss out on the festivities because some short-sighted employers are forcing them to work. Many bosses are not even giving them the premium pay rates they'd normally get on a bank holiday.

"While this penny pinching may save companies a few quid in the short term they lose more over time by generating widespread resentment amongst staff that may make them less likely to go that extra mile in the weeks and months to come.

"Workers have had enough bad news recently with taxes and under-employment rising, and take home pay going in the opposite direction. Let's at least make this coming weekend one where everyone can celebrate and have a good time."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT