DGB Warns 13-Hour Shifts Possible Under Coalition's Labour Law Overhaul as Strikes Spread Across Germany

A deepening conflict over working time regulation is threatening to derail the German government’s economic agenda just hours before a top-level meeting at the Chancellery. The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) has launched a fierce attack on the coalition’s plans, arguing that switching from a daily to a weekly maximum working limit could open the door to shifts lasting 13 hours.

DGB chair Yasmin Fahimi called the proposal “economically and socially misguided,” saying it would weaken worker protections without providing any measurable boost to growth. Under the current system, the law caps daily hours at eight, with limited exceptions. A shift to a weekly cap, the union federation warns, would allow employers to cram longer single shifts into a compressed work pattern.

Labour Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) signalled willingness to offer more flexibility, but only under strict safeguards. She insisted that any departure from the eight-hour day must be voluntary for employees, and tied to mandatory electronic time tracking. Relaxations would be confined to workplaces covered by a collective bargaining agreement—a condition that excludes nearly half of Germany’s workforce.

Collective bargaining coverage has eroded sharply over the past three decades. In West Germany, nearly 90 percent of workers were covered in the 1990s; today the figure is below 50 percent. The national minimum wage, introduced in 2015, helped curb low-pay employment—the number of low-wage jobs fell by 1.3 million between 2014 and 2024. Currently set at 13.90 euros an hour, it is scheduled to rise to 14.60 euros on 1 January 2027. Bas also proposed an income tax reform that would cut annual tax by at least 500 euros per worker by early 2027.

Pension policy has emerged as another flashpoint. The DGB is demanding a mandatory, employer-financed company pension for all employees. Both SPD leader Lars Klingbeil and Chancellor Friedrich Merz have expressed openness to more binding models. Employers’ president Rainer Dulger pushed back, warning that social security contributions could climb from just under 40 percent of gross wages to 43 percent—a yearly extra burden of roughly 50 billion euros.

The political debate is unfolding against a backdrop of active labour disputes across the country. In Berlin, 2,200 employees at subsidiaries of the Vivantes hospital group are demanding pay parity with the public-sector collective agreement. After 50 strike days and 16 rounds of negotiations, no deal had been reached by Tuesday. In Neubrandenburg, part of the waste-management workforce has been on strike since March, pressing for wages aligned with standard sector rates. Verdi, the union leading the action, says piles of uncollected waste have built up significantly.

In Berlin again, unions GEW and Verdi called warning strikes at the Unionhilfswerk social services organisation on Tuesday, aiming to secure a first-ever collective agreement. At public broadcaster WDR, a partial breakthrough came on the same day: the VRFF media union agreed to a staggered salary increase running through 2028. Other unions sharply criticised the WDR deal.

The government is racing to push its reform package through parliament before the summer recess, which begins after 10 July. A coalition committee is scheduled for 1 July, with final decisions on the package expected by 30 June. The pension commission is due to publish its report on 29 June.

Whether the coalition can bridge the deep divide between employers and unions remains uncertain. Only 31 percent of citizens believe the reform package will be passed on time, according to a recent opinion poll.

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