Anyone who lives in Spain will have experienced the popularity of the Spanish puente (literally ‘bridge’), which results when a Public Holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday and workers take an extra day to make a four-day weekend.
While previously any move to change this tradition might have attracted howls of protest from outraged employees, the currently rocky economic climate has led the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (CEOE) to suggest that in the future all Public Holidays should be moved to the nearest Monday or Friday, thereby rendering the time-honoured four day puente extinct, a proposal that has been greeted with a surprising lack of animosity from unions.
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