The
TUC says up to 6 million people may lose out on the Jubilee Bank Holiday on 3
June.
The
union believes a substantial number will be sent home without pay, and even
more will have to work as if it was a normal Monday.
The
TUC is calling on the Government to change the law to ensure employees working
on public holidays are paid at least double time, or are paid the normal rate
and given an extra day’s compensatory paid leave.
It
says although 16 million employees take all Bank Holidays as time off, 6.8
million employees (three out of 10) work at least one Bank Holiday per year.
Figures
show 5 per cent of employees who work on a Bank Holiday do not get paid to do
so.
John
Monks, general secretary of the TUC, said: "This issue is about our
national sense of fairness. Bank Holidays like the Golden Jubilee should be
national days of celebration, enjoyed by as many people as possible – and that
means employees must be properly paid for these holidays.
"While
we recognise that some people must work on public holidays, they should be
compensated for the inconvenience of having to work while the rest of the
nation is at play. To stop bullying and exploitation of vulnerable workers
there should be new legal minimum standards of pay for public holiday
working."
