Overview

• Gitta Connemann of the CDU, the federal government's commissioner for small and medium-sized businesses, proposes abolishing the Reformation Day public holiday to increase labor input.
• She told Table.Briefings that churches are empty on the day even in Protestant-leaning Lower Saxony, questioning the holiday's current relevance.
• Connemann also urges ending telephone sick notes, arguing they encourage staying home rather than returning to work.
• She points to employer costs for continued wage payments rising by more than 10 percent in three years and now totaling about €82 billion annually.
• Business groups previously floated cutting Christian holidays, but a YouGov poll in the spring found 73 percent of respondents opposed to reducing holidays to boost the economy.