NEWS RELEASE Monday, 29 November 2004 For Immediate Release
St Andrews Day Bank Holiday
The Scottish Trades Union Congress is supporting the backbench bill of MSP Denis Canavan proposing the establishment of St Andrew's day as a national holiday
STUC General Secretary, Bill Speirs, said "St Andrew's Day has grown increasingly important in recent years as demonstrated by the great success of our annual St Andrew's Day March and Rally in Glasgow on Saturday (27/11/04). Under the banner of `Show Racism the Red Card', the trade union movement in Scotland currently promotes St Andrew's Day as a national celebration of Scotland's diversity of cultures, faiths and ethnic origins. The STUC are very keen for the Bank Holiday to have a theme of this nature. This, in our opinion, would improve Scotland's international image and attract more visitors from overseas."
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Tel: 0141 337 8100 / Fax: 0141 337 8101 www.stuc.org.uk
Information for Editors The STUC believe that the establishment of a bank holiday · on St Andrew's Day in Scotland would be a positive step in the right direction in gaining parity with workers within the European Union. Currently only the Netherlands gives its workers as few public holidays as the UK, however, Dutch workers benefit from more annual leave. With 11.35 days as the average across the 25 European states, Slovakia (18 public holidays) has the most, closely followed by Cyprus (14). Malta, Spain and Portugal all grant their workers 14 days each year. · There is an ongoing concern from unions organised in the finance sector over the refusal by some banks to recognise, as well as de-recognition of, the 2nd of January as a Scottish Bank Holiday. The STUC would stress that concerns around this issue must be considered within the context of any new holiday.