Companies are cutting Christmas benefits for shopfloor workers while offering senior staff gifts and private dinners, a report published on Thursday says.

The survey of 150 companies employing 96,000 workers suggests a canteen Christmas dinner is all most employees can expect.

And one in five will have to pay for it themselves.

But senior staff will often receive preferential treatment, according to the Labour Research study.

Christmas bonuses

It says the season of goodwill is "rapidly disappearing" in British industry.

Only 15 companies surveyed were paying Christmas bonuses.

And fewer than one in four staff representatives asked said their company was laying on a party.

A similar proportion said staff would receive a seasonal gift - with vouchers and turkeys the most common.

Most union officials surveyed said their employers' were "not very merry".

But bus companies are the biggest Scrooge employers, according to the magazine.