Gov't to abolish long weekends in 2013

By the end of the year, the Spanish government will move some holidays that fall during the workweek to other days in order to prevent people from taking long weekends, government spokesperson and Deputy Premier Soraya Sanz de Santamaria told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Thursday. The government will meet with society, the Episcopal conference and the autonomous regions to work out an agreement to make some holidays fall on a Monday. Unions and management have already reached a labor reform agreement, to make sure the Assumption of the Virgin (August 15), All Saints (November 1), and Constitution Day (November 6) all fall on a Monday. The reformed calendar will be effective beginning in 2013, Santamaria said. Spain's bishops will not "anticipate nor reply" until it they have seen the government proposal, an Episcopal Conference spokesperson said.