Spanish Parliament Blocks Shorter Work Week in Blow to Sanchez

The Spanish Parliament voted down Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s proposal to reduce the working week in the latest setback to his struggling minority government.

With the conservative opposition and some allies against the measure, lawmakers voted 178-170 to block it Wednesday evening. The premier and his cabinet in February had promised workers in Europe’s fourth-biggest economy they would have weekly working hours hours cut to 37.5 from 40, with a strong endorsement from the leftist Sumar party, headed by Deputy Premier and Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz.