The discussion on a possible reduction in the number of days off for the New Year will continue, said Yaroslav Nilov, head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs.

“There are long weekend supporters and long weekend opponents.

This discussion will continue if no steps are taken... It would be wrong to simply shorten the weekend that many are accustomed to.

Therefore, this topic needs to be discussed, ”RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.

From the deputy's point of view, sociological research should be carried out on this matter and a possible change in the days off should be discussed within the tripartite commission.

“There are different attitudes towards long holidays not only among citizens who would like to rest in a different period, but also among the professional community ... We need to discuss this topic and conduct normal sociological research, understand how society relates to this ... There is platform of the tripartite commission," Nilov said.

“Personally, I have a positive attitude towards the long weekend for the New Year ... What exactly needs to be done is to make December 31 a day off, fix it in the Labor Code, transferring it from January 8,” the parliamentarian added.

In turn, Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs, also expressed the opinion that the New Year holidays should not be reduced.

“In my opinion, the New Year holidays do not need to be touched.

It is very rare for a family to have a time when mom and dad at the same time for a fairly long period can relax with their children, go to relatives, visit a new and interesting place.

This is the time to meet relatives, spend it with family.

And now I consider it unacceptable to touch the holidays, when the Russians just discovered this time as a period of exciting travels, ”the RT interlocutor emphasized.

Holidays in 2023

The discussion about the duration of the New Year holidays in Russia began again after Maxim Ivanov, a member of the State Duma committee on agrarian issues, said that they should be shortened so that the weekends were distributed more rationally.

“It is necessary to distribute the weekend evenly so that people do not rest for weeks and do not understand what to do, already doing something from idleness, but really distribute it rationally so that there are three days off each.

But nevertheless, for three days of active rest, everyone would be fine ... We still need to cut the New Year holidays and make them smaller, ”RIA Novosti quotes him.

  • New Year decorations on Palace Square in St. Petersburg

  • globallookpress.com

At the same time, Ivanov does not believe that it is necessary to similarly reduce the number of days off during the May holidays.

“As for the May holidays, they should not be shortened, because people are engaged in sowing, that is, planting potatoes, gardening, orchards.

And here, probably, it still benefits that people have so many days off in May, ”said the deputy.

Earlier, the Ministry of Labor announced that in 2023 the New Year holidays will last from December 31 to January 8, and the days off on January 1 and 8 will be postponed to February 24 and May 8.

In the coming year, Russians will have a four-day weekend at the end of February, timed to coincide with Defender of the Fatherland Day, while March 8 will be the only day off (on Wednesday).

On May holidays, non-working days will be periods from April 29 to May 1, as well as from May 6 to 9.

In addition, three non-working days will be June 10-12 (in honor of the Day of Russia) and November 4-6 (in honor of the Day of National Unity).

Recall that in the Russian Federation since 1992, non-working days during the New Year period were January 1, 2 and 7.

At the end of 2004, amendments were made to the Labor Code, which fixed the New Year holidays from January 1 to January 5, the 6th was a working day, and Christmas was a day off.

Since 2013, the New Year holidays last from January 1 to January 8, and non-working days coinciding with them can be transferred to other dates by decision of the government.

Usually they are attached to the May holidays.

Since then, the question of the need to review the duration of the New Year holidays has been regularly raised, but no decisions have been made on this issue.

Last year, the New Year holidays lasted from December 31 to January 9 - ten calendar days.

Earlier, State Duma deputies took the initiative to legislate December 31 as a non-working day, however, as a counterargument, it was said that the opportunity to transfer one of the days off to this day already exists and it is not necessary to adopt a new law for this.