While Christmas day has been officially declared as public holidays in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, many shift workers are poised to miss out their own family celebrations on that Saturday as some states and territories have yet to follow suit.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said on Monday that the governments of South Australia, Victoria, the ACT and the Northern Territory have yet to determine if Christmas day on their areas would be regarded as official holiday.

Not following the lead of the four states which granted holiday leaves to their workers could prove disadvantage for the workers in the latter states and territories who report on shifts outside of the regular weekday cycle, according to ACTU president Ged Kearney.

Kearney admitted that existing industrial relation laws do not carry provisions that would allow weekend workers to opt for holiday breaks on such periods as she expressed optimism that the holiday clause could be provided soon if only to establish a semblance of vacation standard for all workers across Australia.

While admitting the importance of spending the holidays with loved ones, the South Australian government said that the current situation would be no different from previous instances when Christmas day falls on a Saturday.

As in prior arrangements, SA Industrial Relations Minister Paul Holloway said that all public sector employees who would happen to work on December 25 would get the extra pay of 50 percent on top of their usual compensation.

Holloway added that holiday provisions for SA workers were the most generous when compared to other Australian states and territories as they were being afforded three days of break over the Christmas holiday period.

Still, the SA government said they would consider the suggestions being pushed by ACTU as Mr Holloway gave assurance that he would take a second look on the possibility that South Australia would follow the way of states which deemed it necessary to allow workers actual holiday rest on Christmas day.