BFederal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil spoke out against the nationwide introduction of a four-day work week. Such a model can make sense in individual cases, for example to make a company attractive to employees, said the SPD politician on Sunday evening on the ZDF program “Berlin direct”. But: “I can’t imagine that for all sectors.”
Instead, more work flexibility over the course of life is more important. Work must fit better with life – for example, when parents look after their children or relatives look after those in need of care. But a rigid system is wrong, explained Heil.
The discussion about the four-day work week has been going on for years and boiled up again ahead of May 1st. There was encouragement, for example, from the SPD chairmen Saskia Esken. The SPD leader said on Saturday that she could “imagine” a four-day week with wage compensation. She referred in particular to the needs of parents.
The chairwoman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, supported proposals for the four-day week on Saturday, but sees this as a decision in the respective industry and not a general solution. IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann can also imagine the four-day week, at least for industrial workers.
“A wrong signal in our situation”
The employers objected. The employers’ association BDA rejected calls for a four-day week without wage cuts. “Significantly less work with full wage compensation – economically that’s a milkmaid’s calculation,” said BDA general manager Steffen Kampeter of “Bild am Sonntag”. “We will only be able to finance our welfare state and climate protection in the long term if we are more willing to work and innovate.”
Kampeter, on the other hand, was open to four-day weeks with the same number of hours. He has nothing against individual solutions in the companies, said the BDA boss. “If it’s possible to spread 39 hours a week over four days – that’s fine too. We strongly advocate making working time legislation more flexible.” However, a reduction in weekly working hours is “sending the wrong signal in our situation”.
Union and FDP also feared that the shortage of skilled workers would worsen. The deputy chairman of the Union faction in the Bundestag, Hermann Gröhe (CDU), warned that a four-day week would damage Germany’s economy. “Reducing working hours and making work more expensive in times of a shortage of skilled workers would do a disservice to competitiveness,” he told the Tagesspiegel on Saturday.
The FDP made a similar statement. “In terms of the blatant skills shortage the proposal for a four-day week is incomprehensible,” said parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Monday editions). “Reduced working hours would not strengthen Germany’s competitiveness, but damage it.”
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