NEWS RELEASE
4 January 2006 embargo: 00:01 hrs Thursday 5 January 2006
408,000 in Scotland work a day a week unpaid, says Scottish TUC A Scottish TUC analysis of official figures published today (Thursday) shows that 408,000 employees in the region worked on average an extra day a week in unpaid overtime in 2005 (6 hours 48 minutes). Nationwide five million employees (4,759,000) worked an extra day unpaid on average (7 hours 24 minutes). The STUC estimates that if each of them worked all their unpaid overtime at the beginning of the year, they would have worked for free and would not start to get paid until Friday 24 February 2006. That is why the STUC and TUC have dedicated Friday 24 February as their third 'Work Your Proper Hours Day'. On that day the Scottish TUC is urging people who do unpaid overtime to take a proper lunch break, and arrive and leave work on time.
The Scottish TUC research published today shows that employers are starting to tackle the UK's long hours culture. The percentage of people across the country working at least an extra hour a week unpaid has fallen slightly, and is now at its lowest level since 1992 (19.4 per cent). Although there are still 600,000 more people working unpaid overtime than in 1992 this is a half million fall from the first 'Work Your Proper Hours Day' in 2003, when 5,217,000 worked extra hours for free.
The official figures also show that employees in small workplaces were the least likely to work unpaid overtime.
STUC Deputy General Secretary, Grahame Smith, said: "Hundreds of thousands of workers in the Scotland are putting in up to an extra day a week for free, but there are now some welcome signs that some employers are beginning to realise that endless hours of unpaid overtime are often a sign of an inefficient workplace and not something to celebrate.