Germany Considers Loosening Eight-Hour Day for Unionized Firms

Germany's Federal Ministry of Labor is considering a significant shift in its Working Time Act, proposing that collective bargaining partners be allowed to establish weekly maximum working hours rather than adhering strictly to the daily eight-hour limit. This move, detailed in a draft obtained by Der Spiegel, aims to introduce greater flexibility into the German labor market.

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The draft picks up on an agreement from the coalition agreement of CDU, CSU and SPD. In it, the coalition had announced the creation of the possibility of a weekly instead of a daily maximum working time.

The draft suggests that instead of a rigid daily cap, unions and employers could negotiate weekly limits. However, this flexibility would be exclusively available to companies bound by collective agreements. Furthermore, any such arrangement would be contingent upon the implementation of specific regulations designed to safeguard employee health. For sectors without collective bargaining agreements, the existing daily maximum working hours are expected to remain the default.

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The draft is a working draft that has not yet been finally coordinated.

This proposal stems partly from a need to align with recent rulings by the European Court of Justice and the Federal Labor Court concerning the mandatory electronic recording of working hours. Employers are likely to be required to systematically track the start, end, and duration of daily work. While the model of trust-based working hours may persist, employers would need to ensure they are aware of any violations of statutory rest periods.

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The considerations are a step back into old regulatory patterns. The draft disregards the coalition agreement and is in essential parts a rehash of a proposal that already failed in 2023. This borders on work refusal and has nothing to do with a pragmatic adaptation to the reality of the world of work.

The German Employers' Association, Gesamtmetall, has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the proposal. They criticize it as a "step back into old regulatory patterns" and argue it falls short of the coalition agreement's promise for more adaptable working time regulations. The association specifically objects to the strict conditions and union-only scope for weekly hour flexibility, deeming it a "hollowing out" of a key reform promise. They also oppose the planned comprehensive, same-day electronic recording of all working hours without exceptions.

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This completely hollows out a central reform promise.