The Aragón government has revised the working-time rules for public-facing staff at the Biblioteca de Aragón and the Bibliotecas Públicas del Estado in Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel . The order was published on Tuesday in the Boletín Oficial de Aragón and comes into force on Wednesday 28 October 2026. It was signed on 30 September by Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, the Consejero responsible for finance, home affairs and public administration.
The main change is that Saturday shifts will receive greater credit. Hours worked on Saturdays will be credited to the working-time account at a factor of two. From the resulting time credit – with a minimum allowance of ten hours – seven and a half hours will count as one full day off; any remaining time will be added to the account. Affected staff will also be able to start their working day as early as 7:30 am. According to the regional government, public-facing staff will thus receive a day off for every Saturday worked.
The order implements a process launched more than two years ago. In February 2024, the administration set up a mesa técnica to review the working schedule for public-facing staff at these libraries. An agreement was reached there on 12 June 2024. The outcome was submitted to the Mesa Sectorial de Administración Generalon 22 May 2025; a further 17 months later, it has now been officially published. According to the legal text, the measure is based on the “prior agreement of the majority” of the trade unions represented on the mesa técnica.
The regional government says double credit is intended to compensate for Saturday work more transparently and reliably. Trade union representatives had previously called for clear rules on weekend shifts. The order does not specify the cost implications; these will depend on individual work schedules and use of the newly regulated leave.
For visitors to the libraries concerned, little will change initially, as the rules govern internal working-time accounting rather than opening hours. Observers in Aragón point out, however, that the new framework could serve as a reference for future negotiations in other departments. In any case, publication in the Boletín Oficial de Aragón marks the formal conclusion of a lengthy internal administrative process.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).