Report to the People
2nd October 2006
Low-paid
Can't Bank on Holiday Bill
Although
it was debated by MSPs on Thursday, questions around the St Andrew's Day Bank
Holiday Bill, some of which I have raised in this column before, remain
unanswered.
Who,
for a start, would get the holiday? Workers
in, say, shops, bars and hospitals? Or
would it only be for civil servants and politicians?
And do those lucky enough to get it want to swap a holiday in May or
August for a dark, wet day off at the end of November?
Some
say this Bill is about workers' rights. But
this, I feel, betrays either a lack of understanding of, or a paper-thin
commitment to, the issue. Giving
workers a better work-life balance is too complicated to be addressed by a
short, modest Bill such as this. Fairness
in the workplace is not, I argued in Chamber, about giving more public holidays
to those who already enjoy them: it's about tackling the holiday discrimination
which divides our workforce.
There
are two million workers in the UK, and tens of thousands in Scotland, who get no
public holidays. Across the
country, low-paid workers must deduct public holidays from their annual leave.
Our
focus should therefore be on backing the drive to make sure full-time workers
get their bank holidays on top of the four week’s statutory paid leave to
which they are now entitled.
If
we are serious about improving working conditions, isn't it the most exploited
on whom we should focus, rather than the most fortunate?
Back to Current Reports to the People
[ HOME ] [ News ] [ Report to the People ] [ Interact ] [ Links ] [ E-Mail ]
[ Copyright ] [ Directgov ] [ Scottish Parliament ]