Originally Posted by Bircho

You are correct. We did have holidays. New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Holiday, Summer Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

A whopping 7 of them. May day was added after we joined.

It was only in the mid 1990's that the right to paid holidays was introduced. Originally at 20 including the above public holidays, and then in the early 2000s changed to 28 including public holidays.

Until the Social directive of 20 days, there was no right to paid holidays other than the 8 public holidays. The Labour opposition at the time in the early 90s actually objected to its introduction although it was one of the first acts of the Tony Blair Government to introduce.

So, shall be now talk about the right to be sacked if a woman was pregnant which was only abolished after we joined as well?

Lots of the things we now take for granted were only introduced as a result of the EC. And why some people think it is ok to force people to work for more than 48 hours per week is beyond me.