General Discussion
A Very Happy St Georges Day to you all.
Even the Gnome who is in charge of the Wall in the
road.
The trouble with Bank Holidays is they are only available to an elite few, most people still have to work 
You started this by saying only the "elite few" get to take bank holidays off, up to you to prove that statement.
I see you have offered no evidence to prove your assertion that only the "elite few" get to take bank holidays. Is that because you have no evidence?
Different situation in different parts of the country and depedant upon lots of things. Up north with lots of industry and office based work plus the union influence, bank holidays are usually adhered to quite stricktly.
In this region with its cowboy employers, crap wages and rubbish jobs it seems to be acceptable to work or to be asked to work on a bank holiday.
With exeptions like the emergency services etc, its everyones right to have paid time off on bank or as they should be called national holidays. If you dont insist on this right when you take a job then its your own fault.
The union rules used to be pay at triple time rate and a day off in lew for bank holiday work and I personally see nothing wrong with this.
The goverment should stand by its national holiday allowance by forcing the likes of supermarkets and non essential businesses to close and pay their staff accordingly. Not a religious person but the same should apply to Sunday's.
https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement
there are legal entitlements to holidays these days and they have to be set out in a contract of employment, and a contract of employment legally has to be sorted out when you start a new job. Changes to the terms and conditions of these contracts have to be agreed with the employer/employee. Paid time off for bank or public holidays are not a legal right - but they can be included as part of the paid holidays. In my last job for example (before I went self employed) I received 4 weeks paid leave, plus bank holidays so that it added up to the total number of days under the law. And of course people are asked to work on bank holidays in this region, as they are in many other areas around the country - but that would have been explained at job interviews and so cannot have come as a shock. I can't believe that you have never used shops, cafes, tourist attractions, public transport, utilities, your phone etc etc (the list is pretty extensive once you think about it) on a bank holiday or a Sunday - all these things need people working to make sure they operate and for many businesses bank holidays are their busiest times.
in my line of work Ive always had to work bank holidays and sundays, originally at double time and a day off in liueu, now quite rightly as DJ says its added on to your holiday entitlement. So now I still have to work BH but have 6weeks paid holiday. That is what I meant when I said it was only an elite few (maybe the wrong word I admit) office workers, council workers, bank staff (who it was originally intended for) etc are the lucky ones, not one member of my family has BH, as they work in retail, hospitality, care,nhs so you see its not everybody 
@Burnside I didnt answer you until now because I thought you were being fascitious and blinkered if you thought everybody had BH off!!!!
@DJ. I agree with you but do we need Mayday Bank holiday.we have another one my 27th.I think we should scrap Mayday bank holiday,and have St.Georges day as a holiday.Am i right in saying that Scotland,Wales,Northern Ireland have their patron saint days as a holiday/day off?
I wasn't being facetious or blinkered, just questioning your incorrect assertion that only the elite few have bank holidays off.
