The Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, has announced that the 35-hour work week will be launched in the general administration of the State (AGE) in the first fortnight of April, a measure that has had the support of CCOO, UGT, and CSIF. This was announced this Friday during a conference of Eldiario.es, in which he recalled that there are autonomous communities where the 35-hour week is already being applied among civil servants, but that in the AGE and public bodies a resolution will be issued to implement this week in the first fortnight of April, presumably after Easter.

You might follow her on social media (@congafas_ on Instagram), where, with humor, illustrations and heartbreaking messages, Laura Camps de Agorreta (Barcelona, ​​1984) She defends the rights of the working class. She also addresses parenting, the physical and mental exhaustion of mothers, the lack of support, and the difficulty of work-life balance. This digital activist and communications consultant has now published an essay. We don't have enough time. (Bruguera 2025), where she reflects on the scourge of our times: the lack of time and the relationship between work and life.

The president of the Family Business Institute (IEF), Ignacio Rivera, stated this Tuesday that companies and their executives are concerned about the "electoral mode" in which the political situation is currently taking place, and that it is "lasting longer and longer." In a meeting with journalists after closing the 28th IEF congress, held in Burgos, Rivera called on politicians to focus on solving problems and stressed the importance of "talking," because "the challenges we face are clear."

Two days before the debate in Congress on the reduction of working hours, Junts remains in the No and continues to defend its comprehensive amendment to the flagship bill of Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz. This is what Míriam Nogueras informed Secretary of State and Díaz's deputy, Joaquín Pérez Rey, in a meeting they held this Monday, according to sources from the Ministry of Labor. In the morning, Junts spokesperson Josep Rius had already made it clear that he was against withdrawing the amendments and repeating a string of arguments against the measure of moving to a 37.5-hour week across the board: "We are where we were, and if there is any new development, we will let you know," he said, referring to one issue in particular.

Everyone has experienced it at some point: during shorter work weeks, due to a holiday, we generally feel more rested and in a better mood. And, moreover, we probably perform better during the four days we spend at work. This isn't just a personal perception: several international studies have found a positive relationship between shorter work hours and improved employee well-being and job performance.

The Spanish government, in need of gestures to disguise the growing blurring of social democracy, has opted for a reduction in the working day, rejected by employers and the right, who always see too many concessions to the working classes. Two and a half hours less per week doesn't cause any major scares. In fact, several sectors are already working below the 40-hour mark: education (34.5), public administration (35.9), and finance and insurance (37.2). Why not the others?

The reduction of the working week to 37.5 hours reached the second round of the Council of Ministers' proposals this Tuesday. under the watchful eye of JuntsThe Spanish government has given the green light to the draft bill that will now make its way to the Congress of Deputies, where, for the moment, Pedro Sánchez's government does not have the guaranteed votes of its investiture partners, nor of the opposition. In fact, Carles Puigdemont's party threatened to overturn the law with a comprehensive amendment, although it remains open to negotiations to try to achieve a different text that includes, in particular, exceptions for Catalonia.

We read in the ARA that "Labor Day was supposed to arrive two days after the bill for the reduction of the working day was approved," but the blackout "forced the Spanish government to postpone the measure's approval." Yolanda Díaz has said that "this May Day will be the last with a 40-hour workday," because the government will approve its reduction in the Council of Ministers next Tuesday. Tomorrow you'll shave me.

In the midst of the crisis between the PSOE and Sumar over the contract for 15 million bullets, finally rescinded, of the Ministry of the Interior with an Israeli company, the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that next week's Council of Ministers will approve in a second round the draft bill reducing the working week to 37.5 hours per week. The date is also significant, or at least symbolic, because it will be approved just before May Day.

It's nothing new that the Spanish government's proposed reduction of the working week to 37.5 hours doesn't please Catalan employers. Perhaps that's why They never tire of recalling his crusade against reform. This Tuesday, it was Pimec (Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) that did so, within the framework of a summit organized in Madrid by Conpymes (Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) under the slogan "Reduced Working Hours: Not Like This!" This employers' association denounces an "imposition" by the Ministry of Labor, in the words of the president of Conpymes, José María Torres, and demands, among other things, that the text be adapted to the sectors: from the implementation of reduced working hours, but also the new time recording and digital disconnection provided for in the law and from small and medium-sized businesses.

The Economic and Social Council (CES), the Spanish government's advisory body, which includes representatives of employers and unions, has issued its opinion on the draft law to reduce the working week to 37.5 hours, with a total of 54 votes in favour and 2 votes against. The representatives of the body have discussed the conclusions of the report until the last minute in order to try to reach a consensus position on an issue that, in fact, separates employers and unions – it should be remembered that the former have not even signed up to the text that UGT and CCOO signed with the Ministry of Labour last December. In fact, the report criticises the Spanish government for having requested a mandatory opinion (not mandatory) on the reduction of the working week with such a short time frame (The preliminary draft is being processed as a matter of urgency): "A series of issues of great complexity and importance are addressed that require a calm and in-depth debate," the report notes.

Catalan fashion company Desigual will be the first in the sector in Spain to implement a four-day working week (Monday to Thursday) and have three days off at its headquarters located in Barcelona. In exchange, workers will take a 6.5% pay cut. The measure has been approved by 86% of workers on Thursday in a vote that was carried out at its headquarters. To approve the measure, the company – which last year saw its turnover plummet by 39% and closed the year with losses of €83m – had stipulated that it would require the consensus of at least two thirds of the workforce.

On more than one occasion the death of an employee from working more than one day without interruption has been in the news. In some cases, it has even been as long as 72 hours, as in the case of a 21-year-old intern who was doing an internship at the Bank of America. A five-year long investigation carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), and published Friday by the United Nations, confirms the harmful effects of long working hours.

Second-year auditors at consulting firm EY's Barcelona headquarters, who are between 23 and 25 years old, have had enough of working up to 84 hours a week (the equivalent of 12 hours a day from Monday to Sunday) for €24,000 a year. According to the newspaper El País this Tuesday, about thirty auditors have informed their bosses of their fatigue and discomfort with these endless days through a collective complaint sent by email. The newspaper specifies that the message was sent last Thursday to the Barcelona office partners and exposed, in addition to fatigue, lack of staff, exaggerated staff turnover or delivery deadlines that are impossible to meet. All this for a salary of €24,000 a year.