More
than 850,000 workers are losing out on holidays due to a loophole in the Working
Time Directive, according to the TUC.
It
also claims that another 400,000 employees are missing out on their entitlement
by rogue employers breaking the UK’s law on paid holiday.
John
Monks, the TUC’s general secretary, said the UK workforce must rely on the
generosity of their employers for entitlement to the UK’s eight bank holidays.
The
problems arise because EU regulation does not differentiate between bank
holidays and annual leave as it was assumed that a member state would not allow
employers to ignore public holidays.
"There
is no good reason why UK workers should have the lowest paid holiday rights in
the EU. We are a prosperous country and can certainly afford to raise our
minimum standards," said Monks.
