Bas's working-time draft ties loosening to collective deals, sparking coalition row

What the draft proposes

Employers and unions would be allowed to agree a weekly rather than a daily maximum working time, but only in tariff-bound enterprises. According to the 21-page document from the labour ministry, roughly half of German employees would be excluded. Every firm that wants to use the new rules would also have to introduce electronic recording of start, end and duration of each workday.

Reaction from business

Employer president Rainer Dulger demanded the draft be pulled back and completely reworked.

“This draft must be withdrawn and completely reworked. It blatantly contradicts the coalition agreement.”

Gesamtmetall chief Oliver Zander called it a collection of trade-union maximalist positions, and the retail federation HDE labelled it a late April Fool's joke.

Coalition partner erupts

CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann said the paper could not serve as a basis for further coalition work.

“The circulating draft does not correspond to the agreement on working-time flexibility in the coalition contract and therefore cannot be a basis for further coalition work on this.”

Gitta Connemann, head of the SME and economic wing of the CDU/CSU, accused Bas of presenting a counter-proposal that hurts the Mittelstand, insisting the coalition contract left no room for interpretation.

Political context in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

During a podium discussion in Parchim, CDU state leader Daniel Peters stressed that the tourism-heavy state needed to escape rigid daily-hour rules. SPD state premier Manuela Schwesig complained that the federal states had not been consulted on the sensitive subject. Left-party speaker Torsten Koplin called the weekly model a general assault on social achievements, including lifetime working hours.

Status of the draft

The labour ministry described the document as an internal working version that has not yet been sent to other departments for inter-ministerial coordination. Minister Bas had publicly stated in early June that she opposed any extension of working hours beyond the eight-hour day and wanted any exceptions tied to trade-union and works-council consent. The draft reflects those positions, putting her at odds with the coalition agreement signed by her own party and the CDU/CSU.