Spanish ministers agree to cut legal working week to 37.5 hours
Spanish ministers agreed to cut the legal working week to 37.5 hours without salary changes, advancing a key coalition government policy despite opposition from employers.
MADRID — Spanish ministers agreed on Tuesday to cut the legal working week to 37.5 hours with no change in salary, forging ahead with one of the coalition government’s flagship measures despite opposition from employers’ associations.
During its weekly meeting, the cabinet approved the reduction, from 40 hours currently, in an executive decree penned by Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, who leads the hard-left party Sumar.
“This proposal is about living better, working less and being much more productive and more efficient economically,” Diaz told reporters.
The measure still needs to be approved in parliament, where the center-left government led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lacks a clear majority and depends on balancing the demands of several smaller parties to pass legislation.
Diaz, who is also deputy prime minister, made the plan to reduce working hours by the end of 2025 central to her party’s support for Sanchez’s premiership.
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