German unions are showing how to win a 28-hour week

Europe’s largest union says negotiations with employers have made ‘little progress’ and the union president Joerg Hofmann has warned employers to expect “warning strikes” from next week with more stoppages to follow – and a potential ‘general strike’ across Germany’s engineering, automotive, aerospace and electrical industries.

Hofmann said this week:

IG Metall’s strength is boosted by full order books and low unemployment. The Gesamtmetall (the engineering employers’ federation) has so far offered 2% and rejected any movement on hours.

This has angered the union who are pushing for a radical reduction on hours of work having consulted with union reps and members widely.

Employers will be wary as IG Metall led the campaign – and won – a 35 hour week in the 1990s. IG Metall’s claim is for workers to be allowed to switch to a 28-hour week for a two-year period to look after children, family and undertake community work — but with limited impact on wages.

“The time has come for workers to demand more self-determination to adapt working hours to their personal situation,” Hofmann said last year. He said the trend for more flexible working hours in recent years had mainly benefitted bosses who got staff to work longer shifts.

The union claim has created debate in Germany on work life balance. The union accepts that in certain circumstances, reduced working hours must not go hand-in-hand with a drastic salary cut — for instance when staff are caring for young children or ailing relatives.

In those cases, the union wants employers to top up workers’ salaries to help make up for the shortfall that comes with clocking up fewer hours. It also wants employees to be guaranteed a return to a 35-hour week after two years.

Professor Gustav Horn of the respected think tank Hans-Boeckler Foundation said: “I think IG Metall’s proposal is very modern.” He said it would lead to higher costs that would hurt employer’s bottom line, but could also be a way for firms to hold onto their best workers. “In future, well-qualified employees will select those companies that offer flexible hours that suit their lives at that time,” he predicted.

But Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank, said a shorter week would mainly hurt many companies including those in the Mittlestand (SMEs in the supply chain)

The Gesamtmetall employers’ federation has slammed IG Metall’s demand as “too costly” and “unfair”.

But IG Metall says firms were losing out on retaining skilled workers by not meeting their needs, particularly among the female workforce.

The controversy is also an issue that will surface with Chancellor Angela Merkel who is ready to open talks to form a grand coalition government with the SDP next week.

The Social Democrats lead by chief negotiator Andrea Nahles, has already said it was “a good thing” that IG Metall was putting working time at the heart of its demands.