Spain takes the week to 37.5 hours

Madrid:

Spain’s minority leftist government on Tuesday approved a plan to reduce the working week by 37.5 hours in one of the world’s fastest developed economies.

But this measure faces a difficult fight in Parliament and the misconception of business leaders who are afraid that it will stop development.

Socialists committed to reduce the working week from 40 hours to 37.5 hours, which by the end of 2025 with a remote-leftist party summer as part of their 2023 alliance deal without any loss of salary by the end of 2025.

The decrease in agreeing after political agitation of more than a year will affect about 12 million workers, especially in retail sales, hospitality and agriculture. Public sector employees and most large companies already have 37.5 hours of work.

Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz said that the plan would “modernize” Spain and promote productivity, a heel of an economy that expanded 3.2 percent last year, leaving the European peers behind.

“It is about being skilled in work” and “hopes” to workers, Sumerhead told a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

The agreement follows a deal signed with two main unions of Spain last year, but without representatives of business leaders who left the table of conversation after 11 months of conversation.

They worry that Spain’s labor market is already showing symptoms of delicateness after unemployment in January, and that improvement will damage some areas.

The government also faces a challenging task of finding partners to pass measures in Parliament, especially in view of the trauma of two major supporters Business Catalan and Basque separatist parties.