Labour MP repeats call to shift mid-week public holidays to Mondays

Labour MP Franco Mercieca has reiterated his suggestion that employees be allowed to prepone their vacation days to Mondays for certain public holidays that fall in the middle of the week.

Speaking in his parliamentary adjournment, Mercieca said that granting people long weekends, rather than isolated vacations in the middle of the week, will allow them to take more short holidays with their loved ones. 

“This proposal will also lead to more people spending long weekends in Gozo, hence boosting the island’s economy,” the Gozitan MP said.

He added that his proposal will not apply to Good Friday, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, or the religious feasts of Imnarja and St. Joseph’s Day

Mercieca argued that the weekend economy activity tends to shoot up between 15 and 20% when a public holiday falls on a Monday, and that business productivity tends to suffer when public holidays fall in midweek.

He pointed out that vacation days for several public holidays in the UK and the United States have long been shifted to the preceding Monday, allowing people to enjoy long weekend.