Spanish unions press on hours

Spain’s two main union confederations, CCOO and UGT, will continue to press for a legal reduction in legal working time from 40 to 37.5 hours a week, despite a defeat in parliament that has halted progress.

The government had introduced legislation to achieve the cut in hours but without a stable majority to guarantee that it would go through. Although the unions took action to back the measure, opposition from the centre and far right, as well as a Catalan party, which normally backs the government, was sufficient to vote the proposals down on 10 September.

Unai Sordo, the CCOO’s general secretary, has promised that the unions will not let the issue drop. “We are not going to allow it disappear from the political agenda,” he said.