Report to the People
4th June 2007
What
Holiday?
With summer
borders awaiting plants, ceilings needing painted and the rest of the DIY you
started on Good Friday to finish, “holiday Monday” is an oxymoron for us
poor men.
(And, to
pre-empt any letters, I should of course also make it clear that women never
have a day off and spend their bank holidays toiling far harder than men.
New curtains don’t just pick themselves, you know.)
If, though,
you work in a pub, hospital, or shop, today isn’t even a holiday in name.
Neither is it a holiday if you work in Glasgow, or for a company which
takes the national bank holidays. Because,
in common with almost everywhere else, you had last Monday off instead.
It’s
traditional that different parts of Scotland have different holidays.
And this has advantages: you can go away for the weekend without paying
inflated bank holiday prices.
But it’s
not much use if your children and partner are off today, while you were off last
Monday. How does that help the
family spend time together?
Years ago, I
explored whether local holidays could be standardised and was told that, while
local authorities are encouraged to work together, workers wanted to keep their
traditional holidays.
Is this still
true? Does the current system suit
you? Or is it outdated; a relic
from when almost everyone lived and worked in the same town?
Before I make
renewed representations to the Executive, I want to find out.
So why not let me know by voting in the poll I'm currently running on
this site?
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