Fixing or shifting holidays?

This coming Monday marks Labour Day. It is an international holiday, which in our part of the world falls on May 1 every year, whose main aim is to recognise and honour the efforts and contributions of workers in various fields.

A very good idea indeed. A one-day holiday in the year for people who work hard is much deserved.

The focus in this article, however, is not on Labour Day per se, but on the shifting and fixing of holidays, and the anxiety and confusion that often happen as a result.

Originally, holidays in the country, aside from religious holidays, which depend on the lunar calendar, were fixed, i.e., people took days off from work on the actually days and dates of these holidays.

For instance, if the day in question fell on a Wednesday, Wednesday was a holiday.

In recent years, however, the government started shifting holidays to avoid having a work day fall between the holiday and the weekend.

For instance, if the holiday fell on a Wednesday, people were made to work on Wednesday and take Thursday off instead.

The same applies to Monday. People were made to work on Monday and take Sunday off.

Some Arab countries were, perhaps still are, more generous. 

If a work day fell on a Sunday or a Thursday, and Monday or Wednesday was a holiday, people took Sunday or Thursday off as well.

Shifting the holiday to Thursday or Sunday to make a longer weekend has its justifications.

Keeping holidays on the days on which they fell also has its justification.

And people are divided between those who argue that holidays should be taken on their actual days, and people who favour shifting for comfort and convenience.

What is not justified, however, is keeping people in suspense till the very last minute to announce whether the holiday will be shifted or kept on its day and date — as has happened with this year’s Labour Day.

We live in a complex world. There is so much traffic going on, on this small globe, for business as well as for pleasure, and people who must travel for either one of these two reasons need to know in advance which day will be off.

Booking for travel in advance, as is well known, is much cheaper. Booking later is a lot more expensive.

Many people travel on holidays, and knowing in advance how many and which days will be off is important.

Keeping them in the dark till the last minute causes them a lot of anxiety and a lot of expense.

But the same confusion is costly also for people who are not planning to travel.

So many individuals and institutions, private as well as public, have work to perform, appointments to keep and activities to schedule.

As most of these activities are coordinated with others, parties involved need to know if the Sunday or Wednesday in point is a working day or not.

Ending this confusion once and for all is a must.

Towards this end, the government needs to make up its mind whether it wants to keep holiday on the days they fall or shift them as illustrated above.

In the former case, all will be clear all year round, and people can plan their activities and schedules way in advance and with no interruptions.

In the latter case, the government should declare this as a policy so that people also know for good that when a working day falls between a holiday and a weekend, the holiday will be shifted.

There is no justification whatsoever to keep people on their toes till the last minute before informing them when and if a holiday will actually be a holiday.