Spain cut severance pay for workers on Friday and watered down collective bargaining rights, giving more power to employers as it attempts to kick-start its moribund jobs market and slash Europe's highest unemployment rate. The centre-right government said it would abolish contracts allowing severance packages of 45 days' pay for every year worked to employees deemed to have been unfairly dismissed - a common finding by Spanish employment tribunals.
Instead, employers firing staff will have to offer just 33 days' pay per year, or 20 days if the business is facing losses over a sustained period.