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Portugal to re-introduce 35-hour working week for civil servants

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portugal's parliament on Wednesday adopted the 35-hour working week law for the public servants.

The Socialist Party, Left Block and Communist Party voted in favor while the Social Democrats and CDS voted against.

The vote took place at the Commission of Work and Social Security, and a plenary vote will take place this Thursday.

The new working hours for civil servants will come into effect on July 1, though there will be some exceptions and health workers will face the biggest challenges, according to local media reports.

The 35-hour working week has been one of the trade union CGTP's main demands, with its leader Armenio Carlos pointing out that the 40-hour working week determined by the previous government led by Pedro Passos Coelho's center right government "brought no benefits to public services or citizens."

Portugal lifted working hours and the country's retirement age to 66 during the austerity drive as part of the 78 billion euro bailout package it signed in 2011, as well as making tens of thousands of public workers redundant.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has promised to roll back austerity, while maintaining fiscal discipline, with the support of the radical left. However, he has faced pressure from his eurozone partners.

Portugal's Labour Code, introduced in 2003, already established that the working time should not exceed eight hours per day or 40 hours per week. Endit