Deputy PM urges unions and business to renew talks over collective bargaining

Warming to his recently acquired new role as deputy prime minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba urged the country's unions and employers to renew talks on changes to the country's collective bargaining system.

Relations between industry, labor and government have floundered of late in the wake of parliamentary approval for labor market reforms making it cheaper to sack workers. "The relationship with the unions is not going through its best moment, but we are going to try to get social dialogue going again," Rubalcaba said during a seminar.

One of the major pending issues for the government is a reform of the pension system, including raising the retirement age to 67 from 65.