Overview
- The coalition has a plan to swap the statutory eight‑hour daily limit for a weekly working‑time framework that would let hours be concentrated on some days so long as the weekly total is respected.
- Labor Minister and SPD chair Bärbel Bas has publicly rejected taking up the reform even though it is in the coalition agreement while Chancellor Friedrich Merz and employer groups back changing the daily cap.
- The issue has split the SPD between party‑right figures who favour more flexible work rules and the party left including the Jusos who say the change would roll back a century‑old protection.
- Trade unions, the Greens and The Left pressed the point in Parliament with motions that led the Bundestag to debate working‑time policy on Friday, May 22, and to refer proposals to committees for further work.
- Proponents such as IW director Michael Hüther argue the weekly model brings flexibility for office and service jobs and need not increase total hours, while critics warn it could enable much longer single workdays without strict legal or collective‑bargaining safeguards and say outcome will depend on the negotiated safeguards.