Germany’s Working-Time Reform Spurs Pre-Vote Row Over Union-Only Flexibility
19.06.2026 - 08:08:04 | boerse-global.de
A draft reform from Germany’s Federal Labour Ministry would let unionised companies push daily shifts up to ten hours, while shops without a collective agreement stay stuck at eight. The proposal, authored by Labour Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD), has ignited fierce opposition even before the cabinet signals.
At the heart of the plan: employers and employees could agree on a weekly rather than a daily ceiling for working time. The standard eight-hour day would remain the default, but exemptions would widen sharply. In businesses covered by a collective labour agreement or a works council deal, the daily limit could climb to ten hours, provided the average weekly load does not exceed 48 hours over the year. In practice, a 60-hour week would be allowable for a stretch — as long as compensatory time off comes within four months.
Firms that are not union-bound must keep the daily cap as a hard boundary.
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Alongside the flexibility, the draft tightens record-keeping. Employers would have to log start, end and duration of work shifts electronically. The move implements rulings from the European Court of Justice and Germany’s Federal Labour Court. Trust-based working time remains legal, but the documentation duty does not disappear — it can simply be delegated to employees.
The one-off transition cost is put at €76.7 million. The ministry projects annual savings of €168.6 million from reduced bureaucracy.
Business leaders and conservative politicians have sharply criticised the linkage between flexibility and collective bargaining. Rainer Dulger, head of the employers’ association, demanded the draft be withdrawn, calling the connection insufficient for a modern workplace. Oliver Zander of the metalworking industry group Gesamtmetall labelled it a “return to outdated regulatory patterns” and accused the ministry of implementing union maximalist demands.
CDU Secretary-General Carsten Linnemann declared the proposal inconsistent with the coalition agreement. Gitta Connemann of the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion (SME and Business Union) denounced the disadvantage for non-union firms and the bureaucratic hurdles.
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The draft also contains special Sunday-work openings. Public libraries could staff Sunday operations for up to six hours. Bakeries would be allowed five hours of production on Sundays and three hours for delivery.
The ministry stresses that the text is an internal working document, not yet final. The reform is part of a larger package that includes pension and tax changes. The coalition aims to debate it before the summer parliamentary break.
