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No 60-Hour Workweek

The government will not support an extension of the maximum length of the workweek from 40 to 60 hours, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday, Interfax reported.

The move is simply “impossible” in a modern state such as Russia, Medvedev said at a meeting with representatives of labor unions.

The proposal was voiced in November in a draft of amendments for the Labor Code penned by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

The bill said the extension of the workweek would be voluntary for employees, but labor unions warned that it might lead to workers being forced into accepting longer hours.

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