The Malaysian Trades Union (MTUC) has appealed to both the federal and state governments to declare Friday, July 8, an extra holiday for private sector workers.

Its General Secretary, N. Gopal Krishnam, told Bernama this would not affect the sector as many big companies had already given the day off to their staff.

"What remains now is smaller companies which could easily afford it as all major customers would closed for the day," he said.

Gopal was commenting on the announcement by the federal government to give its staff a special day off on Friday if Hari Raya were to fall on Wednesday.

Earlier, the National Union of Bank Employees had also appealed to the government and Bank Negara Malaysia to give the day off to workers in the financial sector.

The Penang and Johor governments have also given extra holidays to workers in their state.