Germany’s eight-hour workday: why the reform has stalled

Germany’s governing coalition is split over plans to replace the eight-hour daily limit on working time with a weekly maximum. DW reports that the reform has been on hold since a draft from the Labour Ministry in June 2026, and the Social Democrats have since hardened their position.

What happened

DW opens with a job advert. The Finnish biotechnology group UPM has built a biorefinery for wood-based chemicals in Leuna, a major chemical industry hub in Saxony-Anhalt where more than 100 companies operate. UPM is hiring a chemical technician, and applicants must be willing to work 12-hour shifts.

Under German law, the standard working day is limited to eight hours. It can be extended to ten hours if workers get time off later to make up for the overtime, and there must be at least 11 hours of rest between two shifts. According to DW, some sectors are already allowed longer hours, including emergency services, health care and security services. Workers in power plants, refineries and the chemical industry may work up to 12 hours at a time.

Employers and the conservative CDU and CSU parties have long called for looser rules. Rainer Dulger, president of the Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände (BDA, the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations), points to the European Working Time Directive, which allows a maximum working week of 48 hours. He told the dpa news agency that the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Hours Act) “dates back to the era of fax machines and rotary-dial phones.”

In their 2025 coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and the centre-left SPD agreed to set a maximum weekly rather than daily working time. The SPD would have preferred to leave the law as it is. After visiting the UPM site in Leuna in September, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told business leaders at the Employers’ Day in Berlin that he was “completely surprised” to find it ran continuous 12-hour shifts, approved by the Betriebsrat (works council). “Working more than eight hours is not exploitation,” he said. “We should do it.”

The Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, then led by the SPD’s Bärbel Bas, produced a first draft in June 2026. Bas has since resigned for personal reasons. Her draft required any schedule changes to be covered by a Tarifvertrag (a collective agreement between employers and unions), included health and safety rules, and required working hours to be tracked electronically. The CDU/CSU rejected it at once. Dulger said it “must be withdrawn and completely revised,” and the Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks (ZDH, the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts) called it a “breach of the commitments agreed to in the coalition agreement.”

What it means for you

For now, nothing has changed. The current rules still apply: eight hours a day as standard, up to ten with time off to compensate, and 11 hours of rest between shifts. Longer shifts are allowed only in the sectors DW lists, such as health care, security, power plants, refineries and chemicals. At sites like the Leuna biorefinery, they are also arranged with the works council.

If you work in hospitality, tourism or project-based jobs, you are in the sectors employers most often name as needing more flexibility, so watch this debate closely. If a reform passes, the main question for you will be who decides your hours. The SPD’s Annika Klose said flexibility should mean being able to take your child to football practice and finish work later. It should not mean your boss telling you, against your will, to work from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. the next day.

The trade union Verdi warns that much longer working days could harm health, put pressure on staff in some industries to accept longer shifts, and disadvantage people with family or caring responsibilities. If you are asked to work longer shifts now, check your employment contract, any collective agreement that covers your workplace, and whether your employer has a works council.

What to watch next

The new SPD Labour Minister, Alexander Schweitzer, will decide how the ministry proceeds, and DW notes it is unclear whether he shares Merz’s view that the reform can be done “relatively quickly.” In early October, the SPD released a seven-page paper titled “Self-determination, Not Deregulation.” It was signed by the party’s working group on labour, its youth wing Jusos, the “60plus” working group and the women’s wing. The paper repeats the conditions from the June draft and demands that employers and employees set working hours “jointly and by mutual agreement.” DW describes the dispute as another stumbling block for a government that is already under strain.

Source: DW