A view of Berlin, Germany [123RF]
A view of Berlin, Germany [123RF]

German business groups have begun calling for the standard workweek to be extended from 35 hours to 40 hours while keeping current wage levels unchanged, ahead of wage negotiations scheduled for October.

According to the Financial Times on Wednesday (local time), Germany's 35-hour workweek was won in 1984 after tens of thousands of West German metalworkers staged a seven-week strike, Yonhap reported.

The 35-hour week applies as the standard under collective bargaining agreements to one-fifth of German workers. The average workweek across all workers stands at 37.8 hours.

Although the 35-hour workweek has been in place for nearly four decades, the debate is reigniting as Germany's core manufacturing sectors — metals and automobiles in particular — lose competitive ground.

The central argument from the business community is that Germany must lower its hourly labor costs to improve efficiency, as the conditions that once allowed it to maintain dominance in manufacturing through highly skilled workers have fundamentally shifted.

According to the Financial Times, Germany's industrial competitiveness peaked in late 2017 and has since fallen more than 15 percent from that level, weighed down by rising energy prices, intensifying competition from China, US tariffs and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, Yonhap reported.

Against that backdrop, Germany's labor costs are the highest in the EU. Manufacturing hourly labor costs currently stand at 49.50 euros ($58), some 47 percent above the EU average of 33.70 euros.

Business groups argue that while high labor costs were once offset by political stability, a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure and dense industrial clusters, those advantages can no longer absorb the burden.

Labor unions push back, arguing that no workplace rigidly enforces a strict 35-hour week and that companies already have the discretion, through agreements with unions, to increase or reduce working hours as needed.

Nadine Boguslawski, a collective bargaining official at IG Metall — Germany's largest union — and a member of the Mercedes-Benz supervisory board, said extending the workweek to 40 hours by reversing the existing principle would only reduce the number of workers further, regardless of whether overtime pay is provided. "I don't know any company that strictly adheres to the 35-hour week," she added.

Calls grow to allow Sunday shopping

Meanwhile, in July, calls emerged to fully lift Germany's ban on Sunday retail trading — a restriction enshrined in the constitution as a guaranteed right to rest on holidays — with proponents arguing the prohibition harms domestic consumption and tourism.

Christoph Ploss, the federal government's tourism coordinator from the Christian Democratic Union, said in an interview with the Funke Media Group that "whether vacationers choose Germany also depends on attractive shops and shopping," adding that flexible opening hours would help retailers stay competitive against online businesses, Yonhap reported at the time.

Wolfgang Kubicki, leader of the pro-business Free Democratic Party, also called for easing trading restrictions to boost domestic demand. "Flexibility is urgently needed. Anyone who wants to force shops to close has no right to complain about dying city centers," he said.

The debate over lifting trading restrictions was partly triggered by the federal government's announcement of a so-called reform package aimed at reviving the economy. The coalition plans to amend working-hours legislation so that, starting in January, bakeries may open on Sundays for up to eight hours and public libraries for up to six.

However, opposition has come from labor and religious groups. The Catholic Workers' Movement issued a statement saying that "a Sunday free from shopping is an essential breathing space for workers, consumers, the environment and the climate."


yul@heraldcorp.com