The TUC has called for three more bank holidays to be given to British workers to bring the UK into line with the EU average of 11 days a year.
Despite business opposition to the idea, the TUC has published figures showing that the UK economy could quite comfortably absorb the creation of three extra bank holidays.
The TUC explained that when the Working Time Directive introduced a legal minimum of four weeks holiday in 1998, six million workers saw their annual leave increase, a third of whom had never before been entitled to any holiday.
According to TUC calculations, this phasing in of additional annual leave meant that by the autumn of 1999 an extra 45.1 million days holiday had been taken, the equivalent of introducing 2.1 new bank holidays.
By looking at the performance of the UK economy from the two years from autumn 1997, which grew by six per cent in real terms with 833,000 additional jobs being created, the TUC concludes that the UK can afford the introduction of new bank holidays.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented: "In the past, bosses have wildly exaggerated the costs of introducing more bank holidays, but our calculations suggest that the UK can well afford to bring in extra days.
"If we all were able to take a few extra days off work, rather than losing out, employers would benefit from less-stressed, more contented, productive staff."
Additionally the TUC argues that the activities of the millions of people not in work on a bank holiday have a positive effect upon other areas of the economy.
Also, between 1997 and 1999, UK productivity grew by 4.6 per cent, whilst the number of contracted hours worked fell by 0.7 per cent, showing that when extra days holiday are granted there is not a negative impact on output.
According to the results of an online TUC poll, the autumn half-term, the national saint's days of England, Scotland and Wales, and New Year's Eve are the most popular choices for the three new bank holidays.
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