27/02/2008

Salaried Employees Working 'For Free' On Friday

Irish salaried employees will be putting a tidy €300 million into the pockets of their employers on February 29, as they work the day for free.

The extra working day in the leap year won’t be reflected in salaried pay, and this ‘free day’ of labour for the employer comes to €300 million in saved wage payments for employers throughout the country.

The revenue generated will put Irish employers in a good position ahead of the upcoming national pay talks, a spokesman from the Irish Congress of Trade Union (ICTU) said: “It should at least influence the upcoming pay talks if employers are going into them with their wallets fattened by €300m. The timing is perfect in terms of boosting the funds and resources available to employers to meet our pay claims,”

Social networking site, Facebook has set up a National Duvet Day network, calling on people to take the day off work and school on February 29 and over 4,000 people from Britain and Ireland have so far joined.

In Britain, a campaign has also been launched by the charity Duvetday.org, asking people to reduce greenhouse gases they would normally generate by not travelling to and from school or work on Friday.

In response, the National Trust have told their 4,800 staff and 49,000 volunteers in Britain and the North to take the day off.

(DW)


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