MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s lower house has shelved a bill that would have shortened the work week by 2-1/2 hours, dealing yet another blow to the fragile Socialist-led minority government which is struggling to pass the reforms it had pledged through a fragmented parliament.

In vote late on Wednesday, opposition lawmakers united with regional Catalan party Junts against the cornerstone legislation championed by Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz and the main trade unions, preventing it from reaching the floor for debate.

However, Diaz vowed to reintroduce the measure lowering the cap on weekly work hours to 37-1/2 from the current 40 – or half an hour less per day – and called Junts’ veto “incomprehensible”.

Business-friendly Junts, which seeks Catalonia’s secession from Spain but sometimes ba

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