The union organisation complained that workers in the UK have fewer public holidays than anywhere else in the European Union, even including the new member states.
Workers were urged to take part in a TUC poll giving their preference for a new bank holiday, with suggestions including a Monday in October, New Year's Eve or the national saints days of England, Scotland and Wales.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "We work the longest hours and have the fewest public holidays. It's about time we caught up with the rest of Europe in the holiday stakes.
"Indeed it is very hard to see why people in England, Scotland and Wales should have two fewer days than Northern Ireland."
Cyprus, one of the new EU countries, has 16 public holidays a year, twice as many as in Britain, while the EU average is now 11.
The TUC said there was also an argument for an extra variable day off to celebrate important national events.
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