Directors want bank holidays abolished

(First Edition)

TRADITIONAL bank holidays are outdated and should be scrapped, the Institute of Directors said yesterday.

The IoD, which represents 40,000 senior managers, is asking the Government to abolish the existing system of statutory bank holidays and wants companies to be free to set holiday dates to suit production schedules.

A spokesman for the institute said that the holidays could be negotiated between employers and employees. Many companies already had contractual arrangements whereby staff worked on bank holidays, he said.

The idea was submitted to Gillian Shephard, the Secretary of State for Employment, as part of the institute's response to a government proposal to abolish the May Day bank holiday.