We should have fewer public holidays and more annual leave

1 News reports:

Multicultural New Zealand (MNZ) president Pancha Narayanan wants a new public holiday to recognise “we are a multicultural society”.

On the last Friday of August every year, the Multicultural Councils across the country celebrate a Te Tiriti based National Multicultural Day.

The initiative was first launched in 2021 as a way to encourage migrants to make their heritage visible in their daily lives by wearing cultural clothing, sharing traditional food with friends and colleagues, and speaking their native language.

This year, celebrations took place earlier at Parliament on August 26 where Narayanan proposed the inclusion of a Multicultural Day into the Holidays Act.

The Holidays Act is the legislation which outlines what public holidays New Zealanders are entitled to — currently we have 11 public holidays.

Actually we have 12 as provincial anniversary days are also public holidays.

The second is a “cultural day” which gives New Zealanders a day off to celebrate an event that is culturally significant to them.

This could be taken on a religious holiday that is not a public holiday in New Zealand, like Vesak Day which is observed by Buddhists, or a cultural celebration, like Lunar New Year.

So that is actually 14 public holidays plus 20 days annual leave where employers hav e to pay staff not to work.

I am a fan of having more flexibility with holidays, but not increasing the total amount. So what I would do is abolish Labour Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and Boxing Days as public holidays, and instead give everyone five extra days annual leave. That way people could choose which holidays they wish to celebrate and take time off for.

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