WORKERS at the FG Wilson Springfield Road plant have hit out at their bosses who they say have given them an extra day off for the queen of England’s diamond jubilee – out of their annual leave. An extra Bank Holiday has been declared for Tuesday, June 5, to mark the jubilee, forcing many businesses to shut up shop for the day.
However, some employees of FG Wilson have contacted the Andersonstown News to complain that company bosses will also be closing the plant on the previous day – Monday, June 4 – because it’s uneconomical to start up the plant for just one day and then close it again. They have informed staff that they will have to take this extra day out of their annual leave.
“A lot of people who work in here are already pretty unhappy at having to take one day off for the jubilee,” said an FG Wilson employee, who did not want to be named. “But to be forced to take another leave day like this, this time out of our own holiday leave entitlement, is a real slap in the face.”
The latest controversy over the jubilee Bank Holiday comes as a new survey revealed that over a third of businesses in the North are unhappy with having to take even one extra day off.
Festivities
The Close Business Barometer, a quarterly survey that canvasses the views of more than 500 owner/managers on a range of issues affecting their business, found that 34 per cent of firms are unhappy about the Bank Holiday and that a further nine per cent were “appalled that they stand to lose a day’s work from the festivities, especially given the current economic climate”.
A spokesperson for FG Wilson told the Andersonstown News yesterday: “The arrangements in relation to the June 5 public holiday have been made for practical reasons, to meet the operational needs of the business.”
