Hospitality urged to cash in on TUC campaign

The TUC is encouraging hotels and restaurants to make the most of next year's Work Your Proper Hours Day with special promotions and deals.

It will urge staff who regularly work unpaid overtime to take a proper lunch, leave work on time or get off earlier on Friday as compensation, on 24 February 2006.

The February date is the day that employees would stop working for free if they actually claimed all their unpaid overtime at the start of each calendar year, according to the Labour Force Survey.

Figures from the government survey suggest the average overtime worker donated almost one day of unpaid labour each week in 2004.

If each had been paid, they would have taken home an extra £4,650 a year. Yet on this basis, UK bosses benefited from a combined £23b-worth of unpaid work in 2004, according to the TUC.

Nigel Stanley, head of campaigns at the TUC, said: "This popular campaign is a great opportunity for restaurants, pubs and hotels to promote special offers to the millions of people with extra time at lunch and after work on the day."

For more details about the campaign, visit www.workyourproperhoursday.com

by Angela Frewin