Longer maximum working hours: Söder's minister wants to allow more than 10 hours a day

Created: 11/30/2022 15:06

By: Thomas Eldersch

Working longer to better adapt to people's living environments.

That is what Bavaria's Minister of Labor, Ulrike Scharf, is now proposing.

Munich – The trend is now moving in this direction in many European countries.

A 30-, 32- or 35-hour week or even a 4-day week is popular with many employees - especially against the background of the work-life balance.

But this is precisely what the Bavarian Labor Minister Ulrike Scharf (CSU) is now arguing with to soften the maximum working hours.

If the CSU politician has her way, more than ten hours a day should be possible.

CSU politician wants to soften the working hours law - the gastronomy is happy

The Working Hours Act in Bavaria is also to be amended to put a stop to the shortage of skilled workers.

Scharf presented the proposal at the conference of labor and social affairs ministers in Saarland.

"A first important step is to allow working times of more than ten hours for individual working days of the week on a voluntary basis and in compliance with employee protection." The CSU politician continues: "We need more flexibility to reconcile family and work to be able to - that also increases the employment rate." For this, the working time laws would have to be adapted to the living environments of the people, according to the dpa with reference to the

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Bavaria's Minister of Labor wants to soften the Working Hours Act.

A maximum working time of more than ten hours should therefore be possible.

© Peter Kneffel/dpa

The Minister of Labor receives praise from the ranks of the catering and hotel industry.

From Dehoga Bayern it says: "Not only companies need more flexibility, the employees also demand more freedom in the organization of their working hours." State manager Thomas Geppert says: "The hospitality industry is not assembly line work.

You have to work when the work has to be done.” This applies, for example, to wedding celebrations where the guests want to celebrate longer or in the beer garden when the sun is shining.

In view of the shortage of workers, the intention is not to let fewer employees work more, but to use them more flexibly.

(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)

Unions are critical of the advance - "The result would be work without end and without borders."

Criticism came mainly from the trade unions.

"The proposals only lead to even more pressure to perform, to even more hamster wheels, but not to a single new specialist," said the chairman of the DGB Bavaria, Bernhard Stiedl.

The workers wanted more flexibility, but no experiments with the working hours law, he emphasized.

"Excessively long working hours and insufficient rest periods are a health risk." In order to improve women's employment opportunities, high-quality childcare options are needed and "the 'family state of Bavaria' still has a lot of room for improvement".

Stiedl's colleague from IG Metall Bayern, Johann Horn, shared his opinion.

"An increase in the maximum daily working hours would open the door to the exploitation of workers," he said.

"The consequence would be work without end and without borders."

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From this Wednesday onwards, the labor and social affairs ministers of the federal states will be meeting in Perl in Saarland.

For years there have been repeated calls from companies, but also from parties such as the FDP, to relax the Working Hours Act.

So far, a maximum of ten hours of working time per day is allowed.