Festive pay block condemned

Some people will be at their desks on Christmas Day

About 91,000 people in Scotland will work on Christmas Day with no guarantee of extra pay, according to the TUC.

Some 285,000 others will be sent home without holiday pay and another 4,000 will work for nothing.

The figures are contained in the TUC's "It's about time" campaign to end the UK's culture of long working hours.

The unions claim Britain is the only country in Europe where employees are not entitled to holiday pay if they take bank holidays off.

Companies are able to include bank holidays in the 20 days annual leave to which staff are legally entitled.

Under these rules, 3,370,000 people in the UK and 285,000 in Scotland find themselves at home on Christmas Day but without any extra pay for the "privilege", the TUC says.

About half of those working on Christmas Day are either in the nursing and social care sector or are in the hotel and restaurant industry.