Working hours should be cut during heat over 26C, says die Linke

Die Linke (The Left Party) co-leader Jan van Acken has proposed that employers in Germany reduce their staff's working hours during heatwaves over 26 degrees celsius.

Van Acken calls for reducing German working hours during heatwaves

Co-leader of the German Left Party, Jan van Acken, has called on the CDU/CSU-SPD government to reduce working hours in the federal republic if the temperature reaches over 26 degrees.

According to German public broadcaster RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), a new paper written by van Acken titled “Heat Protection is Work Protection - Act Now” suggests that daily working hours should be reduced by one quarter if temperatures reach 26 degrees.

If temperatures reach 30 degrees, employees should have the option to work 50 percent of their hours, van Acken proposes, demanding that the government impose the changes by July 2025. Alongside reduced hours, employees should have the right to work from home, take slightly longer breaks, and offices should be well-equipped with water, sun protection, and fans.

“The climate crisis has long also been a social crisis,” the politician told RND, “Those who sit, toiling away under the scorching sun or in an overheated office, are often paying the price with their own health”. Apart from that, nobody can concentrate or work effectively in conditions over 30 degrees, van Acken said.

Heat days (Hitzetage), when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, are becoming more common in Germany due to climate change. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), there were 12,5 Hitzetage in Germany in 2024. More generally, van Acken called for German cities to build more sun cream dispensers and water fountains in public spaces.

CDU and AfD reject van Acken’s proposal for reduced working hours

The CDU and the AfD have already spurned van Acken’s proposal. Speaking to Die Welt, the CDU/CSU’s spokesman for the party’s labour market and social policy parliamentary group, Marc Biadacz, called the proposal “unrealistic and hardly economically viable – especially for skilled trades, nursing staff, and the public sector”.

In fact, in April, the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition announced a plan which it hopes will encourage people to work longer hours in Germany. The plan is based on the European Working Hours Directive, which follows a rule of maximum weekly working hours rather than maximum daily working hours.

If the directive is adopted, the eight-hour working day will no longer be the standard in Germany. The European directive outlines that employees can work a maximum of 48 hours within a seven-day period and can work a maximum of 10 hours per day, rather than eight.