New Delhi: German business leaders are pushing to increase weekly working hours back to 40 from 35, while keeping the pay and benefits unchanged, reported Financial Times.
Germany introduced the 35-hour workweek after tens of thousands of metalworkers in West Germany went on strike for seven weeks in 1984. The change came into effect in October 1995. The shorter workweek has remained in place for almost 40 years, and now fresh calls for a return to the 40-hour workweek have started a new debate around working hours.
This comes as some of Germany’s major industries, especially the automobile and metal sectors, are losing competitiveness. Business leaders say that increasing working hours could help these industries become more competitive.
According to the FT report, IG Metall, Germany’s biggest and most powerful trade union, with more than 2.2 million members, said that the 35-hour workweek is not rigid, and companies often keep increasing or reducing working hours.
“The rigid 35-hour week that is sometimes portrayed simply does not exist in the companies I know,” said Nadine Boguslawski, an IG Metall executive responsible for collective bargaining and a member of Mercedes’ supervisory board.
Boguslawski added that IG Metall was open to finding bespoke solutions for companies in trouble.
Economist say that moving from 35 hours to 40 hours without increasing the wages would increase working time by 14 per cent without any changes in the daily wages.
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Unions vs employers
At the centre of the current debate stands a disagreement between unions and employers over the impact of longer working hours, with companies reasoning the call as beneficial.
Unions argue that longer hours could reduce jobs because the same amount of work would be spread among fewer workers. Employers, however, say that longer hours could help German factories become more competitive and protect jobs.
Boguslawski said one of the main reasons IG Metall pushed for the 35-hour working week in the 1980s was to create more jobs by sharing the available work among more people.
“If you turn that around and increase working hours to 40 a week, regardless of whether those additional hours are paid or unpaid, you tend to need fewer workers,” she told FT.
Germany’s industrial production reached its peak at the end of 2017, but has since fallen by more than 15 per cent. The decline has been driven by higher energy prices, growing competition from China, US tariffs, and the rapid shift toward electric vehicles.
Germany also has some of the highest labour costs in the European Union.
Manufacturing labour costs in Germany are currently around €49.50 an hour, about 47 per cent higher than the EU average of €33.70. That is almost three times the €15.60 hourly labour cost in Hungary’s manufacturing sector.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)