The TUC has campaigned for a “Work Your Proper Hours Day” before. It claims that UK employees worked unpaid overtime worth £23 billion in 2004. On average, each employee who worked unpaid overtime would have earned £4,650 for their unpaid hours if paid at their normal hourly rate, according to the TUC's analysis. If they had done all their unpaid overtime at the beginning of 2005, they would have worked for free until Friday 25th February.
Figures are not yet out for 2005, but the TUC estimates that 24th February is the date on which people who do unpaid overtime will stop working for free in 2006 and start to get paid.
The TUC is using the campaign as a light-hearted way to raise the problem of long hours working in the UK. It hopes that eventually “Work Your Proper Hours Day” will be celebrated earlier each year, indicating that people are working smarter, not longer. This year it was Friday, 25th February.
“Most employees like their job and care about their work, it's one of the reasons they put in unpaid extra time,” said TUC Head of Campaigns Nigel Stanley. “This year we will be providing practical advice on how employers and employees can work smarter to cut their hours and improve the quality of their work.”
He urged employers to mark the date and make plans to say thanks to their staff.
