Spain’s leftist Cabinet on Tuesday approved a landmark labor law reform that aims to reduce the use of temporary contracts and boost job security.
The reform, agreed with unions and employers, reverses business-friendly regulations introduced in 2012 by a previous conservative government during a deep recession that followed the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Spain is the EU nation where the use of temporary contracts is highest, but the reform tightens conditions for their use.
The law limits most temporary contracts to three months and allows temporary hiring only under certain circumstances.
Improper use of temporary contracts is to be penalized with fines and social
Spain government divided over four-day work week
EMPLOYMENT POLICY: Cutting work hours would help the country gain ‘competitiveness, quality of life and employment,’ a labor group leader said
AFP, MADRID
The Spanish government is deeply split over a proposal to shorten the work week to four days to fight high unemployment sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The measure is being pushed by far-left party Podemos, the junior partner in Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government that has ruled the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy since January.
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, leader of Podemos, earlier this month said that the Spanish Ministry of Labor, Migrations and Social Security was looking into reducing work hours, adding that this “could without a doubt favor the creation of employment.”