Spanish public holidays, should they be moved?

 Being in Valencia, next week we have a local holiday on the 9th which is Tuesday and as is custom, many will take advantage and take Monday off too, what they call the "puente" (the bridge, because if one working day  falls between the weekend and the holiday or vice versa they'll take that day off too). None the less a lot of people think that Spain has too many national and local holidays. Maybe with the current economic situation the labour calender should be finally rejigged so that all the holidays fall on Mondays. One of the main problems here is that the employer is obliged by law to give these public holidays as paid days off work in addition to normal worker's holidays which is either 30 calender days or 21 working days. So every time a holiday falls mid week, people tend to take a day's holiday  and make the "bridge", totally disrupting work for the rest of the week.

 I agree,we have too many,i am forced to close and staff expect the day off.

As you say we have the puente on the 8th,9th....Friday 12th is also a Holiday and the 25th which is a thursday so people will expect the Friday off again.

In a booming economic economy it works ok but opportunities need to be taken to bring in as much revenue as possible.

If i have any criticism of Spain it needs to take a leaf out of the Northern Europeans work Ethic without relinquishing its Spanish appeal.

A happy medium is needed.

I agree completely with this. Just put the day on the nearest Friday or Monday and voila more money for the countries economy as people go away for long weekend breaks. My wife and I have been talking about this for ages and she is in total agreeance after having lived in the UK for 11 years.

Georgia in Algorfa - please clarify - is Tuesday 9 a holiday throughout Valencia province (I am in Jacarilla just down the road from you) or just Algorfa - I know Friday 12 is a national holiday - but is thursday 25 a national one too?

I DON'T AGREE!  Having just moved from a 24/7/365 economy, (UK) to one where holidays are valued and shops have to shut, I find the difference refreshing.  Why do we move here for the lifestyle and try to change it?  Spain will get out of the mire, it may take a wee bit longer, but the people who didn't cause it in the first place, will not have to work themselves into an early grave, unlike the northern Europeans.

It is in fact government policy to move most bank holidays to a Monday, as announced by Mariano Rajoy shortly after his election last year, but when it is scheduled to come into force is another matter.

In response  to Donlochnagar, spain will not get out of the mire by doing nothing, this is exactly the kind of "Mana" attitude thats got this country into the compplete mess its in along with a complete inability to face the truth, ever!  Spains problems are quite different from the other "PIIGS" countries, its 20th century history, in particular the Franco years have produced a nation so dependant on the state and with such a profound distrust of business, particularly big business that the "employer" has become the enemy.  Italy, Portugal, Ireland and yes even Greece will recover, Greece by leaving the Euro zone for a period but returning in perhaps 10 to 15 years as a much stronger stable, realistic and forward looking nation.  Not so for Spain, i fear that the mental conditioning of the Franco years is so great that it will take a couple of generations for the Spanish to come to their senses.  It will be the children of the current generation of educated Spaniards who are being forced to leave the country because of the lack of opportunity that will evenutally return to start to build a better more enlightened Spain.  in the meantime Spain has a great deal more suffering on the cards, it will evenually leave the Euro zone for sure and possibily even the European Union, possibly only to return towards the later half of this century.  The truth about Spains finances has not yet been fully told, by nature the government in Madrid and all the regional goverments have not yet fessed up to everything, not by a long chalk, thats the Spanish way, dont tell the truth until the gun is pointed squarely at your head.  When the whole truth about Spain comes out it will be like a nuclear explossion.

 Lawrence - I agree 100% with your observations. Let's see how this thread progresses!

list of "Red" days below. You can select the city closest to where you live.

http://www.seg-social.es/Internet_6/Masinformacion/CalendarioLaboral/Fiestas/index.htm?Ejercicio=2012&prov=03&loc=031330000

lawrencemarbella

+1

I was thinking at least 20 years but your points , especially about the younger ones returning, make good sense.

LawrenceMarbella, as I said, Spain will get out of the 'Mana' attitude as  you put it.  I presume you mean 'manana'.  It will however not be at least in my lifetime, in thrall to global companies and a Government like in the UK, which will have as working to age 75 so that they can sit in their mansions in the third world with their model wives who are 30 years younger than them.  Now, that statement has worried me as I was a big supporter of Thatcher in the 80s, but as you get older, maybe you get a little wiser about how the world is and will be run in the future.  Thankfully, I won't be here to see it, but I intend to enjoy my last 20 years.

Thank you for the spelling correction Donlochnagar.  If one chooses to live in a democracy then one has the right to work for as long or a little as you wish, but should anyone want to stop working before they have enough funds to see them comfortably through the rest of their lives then why expect everyone else to foot the bill?  I'm all for social health and education with some minor limits, i'm certainly not for the stupid American model, but you sure cant have it completely both ways as has been the case in Spain for so long, totally free medical, totally free education and very little work, i'm sorry but the numbers just cannot ever add up, things have to be paid for somehow, the piper will eventually have to be paid and Spain is finding that out.

LawrenceMarbella, I personally believe that it is the first duty of a Government to look after, it's old and sick and educate it's young. That is what we have in Scotland and what you in England had until very recently when the Westminster Government decided to charge tuition fees, whilst spending huge sums on unnecessary wars and nuclear weapons.  So how does that differ from Spain, apart from the unnecesary expenditure?  Spain may have a higher unemployment rate but when you take in the black economy that may not be the case.  In the UK, there is also a huge black economy as well, it's only that the customs and excise are more vigilent and people are less inclined to take a chance.

Lawrencemarbella

Clearly you have never participated in the "totally free" education system here in Spain. I have just paid over €400 for this year's books for my two grandchildren, and that did not include some further books later found to be needed. It is practically impossible to avoid buying new books since the curriculum is changed every year! There are other contributory items which must be paid upfront also. I speak of the Valencian system.

Marcbernard

Erm, i think, no i know you will find that like every country in the EU, if a family in Spain cannot affford required books there are proceedures in place for this to be taken care of, the school may choose not to make this information readily available to you as a foreigner and most English people of course wont ask but its there.  The bottom line is that school in compulsary and you cannot be refused this because of lack of ability to pay for books, how do you think the very poorest Spanish go to school then?  Further as you may know most state schools, virtually all actually, dont require a uniform so thats another saving there.

donlochnagar

I tollaly agree with you on the war thing, i never signed up for going in and beating up other countries.  Nothing wrong with healthcare for all either as far as i'm concerned.  Education should be totally free should you choose to use it up to college and university level, at that point i see nothing wrong with kids, their parents and or families paying something towards that higher education, frankly i'm all for the kids paying it themselves or at least a good portion of it, get a job, flip burgers, stack shelves, do whatever you have to do, for gods sake who is going to benefit? as far as i'm concerned its a character building excersise, why teach your kids to expect something for nothing? it sure aint like that in the real world!  My son is going on a school trip next year which is costing £2500, its actually not all about them having fun, they are going to a third world country to help out for a couple of weeks, i wont go into the details, was i going to pay for all of this? HELL NO! i've promised him £500 of the money and he needs to figure out how to make the rest, he's 16 by the way. So he got a job this summer and so far has paid about half the money, thats without the money ive promised him, he'll likely save the rest from birthday and christmas money between now and easter.  what im getting at in all this is if you build a dependant state then why be supprised when you get dependant people who ultimately will resist any future change even when that change is desperately required for the country as a whole.  it was all good for Spain in the past, even though frankly it was obvious the current problems were going to happen some time, but its not good now is it? its time for change, but like i said earlier the Spanish nature is to resist almost to the point of destruction so it will take a while yet for them to wake up and smell the roses.

Lawencemarbella, I agree, but surely that is down to parental influence not the state.  I had a paper round from the age of 12, although my father had a good business and it instilled the work ethic into me.

Yes donlochnagar but dont you see, when the parents have an attitude that the state MUST provide everything, then what hope is there for the children and future generations, thats exactly whats happened in Spain, everyone is angry at the propossed changes because they dont have any living alternative compass, the problems in Spain having been stacking up waiting to happen for generations.  example: i have a neighbor whos son was a bit bad at school, they kicked him out so he must have been really bad for Spain, anyway, he doesnt go to school and hasnt for at least 3 years, nor does he do any sort of work, even though his father owns some sort of building business, yet the boy has a mobile phone, has a scooter and one of those ridiculous tiny cars with the scooter engines in them, you know the ones i mean.  This is doing nothing but teach the boy that some how someone will always take care of you, if not the state then family, by the way i fully expect next year when he's 18 he will be straight down the dole office to get what he's due! even though he's not done a single days work in his life nor does he appear to want to, lazy git!  I absolutely dont want us to be like America, i lived there for a long tme and my son was born there, actually may go back next year cause had enough of Spain, but lets not go completely the other way, it'll only lead to tears.

One other thing i want to say.  Ive lived in a few places in my life but in my experience there is nowhere more even handed than the UK, its not perfect, its no utopia but its near enough center for us all to be proud.  Only reason i dont live there much these days is cause of the weather, hate it, lol.  I always feel fantasic when i go back even for a short trip in a way i dont when i go anywhere else and its not just because i grew up there, as i said i spent a long continuous time in America and like the place, at least the bits ive lived in, but always find myself wondering what drugs those people are on cause their outlook on so many things is mad, so far to the right, but at least you can get things done and if you are a reasonably decent human being you can at least bang the drum a little for those less fortunate like those that have no health care etc etc, because everyone in their hearts knows its not right that people should suffer because of an inability to pay for heathcare, but ive found in Spain its pretty impossible to do the opposite, they look at you as if you are completely mad if you suggest that they take too many holidays, that their public holidays are taken on days that hinder business, that it shouldnt cost €1000 or more and the help of a lawyer to set up a Spanish company because its so complex and you have to go to 6 different offices, that maybe its a good idea to do a job today rather than manana, that doing your job well is desireable because it helps the company and untimately helps you etc etc etc, its a no win in this regard in Spain, at least for now, i'll come back when the blinkers are off their eyes, maybe, or maybe not, might be dead before that happens.

This message was last edited by lawrencemarbella on 08/10/2012.

This message was last edited by lawrencemarbella on 08/10/2012.

On the subject of people not working, how can the state (as in George Osborne today), say that people shouldn't get benefits ie be able to live, if they don't work, when there aren't the jobs for them to get?