Spain's Congress rejects law to shorten work week

The setback comes with Sánchez's leftist government under pressure following a series of graft investigations into the prime minister and his close allies.

Lacking a majority, Sánchez's Socialist-led coalition has had to rely on support from several regional parties, including the pro-independence Junts per Catalunya, to pass legislation.

The bill, proposed by Labour minister Yolanda Díaz from the hard-left Sumar party, was rejected by 178 to 170 deputies, as the Catalan nationalists voted against.

Q&A: What you need to know about plans to shorten Spain's working week

Its defeat came hours after Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, appeared in court to deny misusing public funds in an embezzlement probe that has rattled the leftist government.

With public servants and most employees of big companies already working a 37.5-hour week, the legislation would mainly have applied to employees in the private sector, especially in agriculture, retail and the restaurant industry.

More than 12 million people would have benefited from the reduced working week, according to the government.

The main employee unions, the UGT and COOO, had backed the bill and called for demonstrations outside the house at the time of the vote, but the main employers' federations were firmly against.

Sánchez's leftist administration had previously suffered a bruising defeat in mid July, as it attempted to pass a package of measures to prevent a repeat of the major blackouts that spread across the Iberian peninsula at the end of April.