Overview
- Employer leaders and business figures have publicly urged replacing parts of the eight‑hour daily framework with a more flexible weekly maximum to lower unit labour costs and help preserve industrial jobs.
- Trade unions including the DGB and IG Metall say a weekly cap would weaken the statutory protection of the eight‑hour day, warn it could legalise much longer single shifts, and demand any change be limited to negotiated tariff agreements.
- A leaked Federal Labour Ministry draft in June proposed expanded exception rules while leaving the eight‑hour limit largely intact, and the government has signalled a formal bill is expected in the autumn.
- Several major managers—at Stihl, Mercedes and other firms—have renewed calls to roll back sectoral 35‑hour practices or return toward 40 hours without proportional pay, a position that has already prompted union protests at some companies.
- The coming metal-and-electrical collective‑bargaining round will be the immediate test for both sides, with unions prepared to mobilise to defend tariff protections and employers looking to press legal and contractual openings for longer hours.