Her government reached agreement with the unions to reduce their number to 37.5 out of 40 hours weekly, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tries to capitalise on social policies, while struggling with weak support in parliament, according to Bloomberg. “It has been more than 41 years since working hours in our country changed,” Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said on Tuesday (04.02.2020) after the cabinet’s weekly meeting. Reform is not just “another economic or work variable. It is a plan for the country, a measure that will modernise Spain.” CORVERSE The proposal will be sent to parliament and is expected to enter into force early next year. The reduction in working hours was agreed between the government and trade union representatives, while business representatives left the negotiations. The new regulation will benefit some 13 million workers in Spain, according to the unions. Public sector workers and certain sectors, such as education, already have 37.5 weekly working hours and the average number of actual weekly working hours in Spain is 36.4, according to Eurostat. “This measure will have a major impact on the entire business world, both large and small companies, and the intention is to facilitate the balance between family and working life and improve productivity,” said Blanca Mercado, a labour dispute lawyer at KPMG. CORVERSE If the plan passes through Congress, Spain will be among the European countries with the least working hours per week. Prime Minister Sanchez has set “work dignity” as one of the government’s priorities “so that all Spaniards work to live and not live to work”, as he has said in the past. The government also agreed last week to raise the minimum wage by 4.4% in 2025, raising the total increase since Sanchez became Prime Minister to over 60%. With the unemployment rate at the lowest level in the last 15 years and the economy as the top performance among the largest members of the eurozone, Sanchez has failed to politically capitalise on this over-performance, as he is having difficulty passing important laws and parliament has not approved a budget since 2023.
Spain: Government – trade union agreement reached for a week of 37.5 hours of work
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