It stands to reason that Hubertus Heil (SPD) is not usually perceived as an ally by employers. Nevertheless, over long stretches of his five-year term in office, the Federal Minister of Labour has also been respected in business for his political professionalism and a certain pragmatism. Recently, however, critical distance from Heil seems to be increasingly turning into open anger. Since Easter alone, Heil has twice struck political stakes in a way that is perceived by employers' representatives as an affront. The current keywords are: Working Hours Act and minimum wage.

Dietrich Creutzburg

Business correspondent in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

For employers in the metal and electrical industry, whose associations represent more than 7000,<> companies, Gesamtmetall President Stefan Wolf is now venting this anger in clear terms. "The Federal Minister of Labor has clearly broken his word," Wolf told the F.A.Z. "Such a policy no longer has anything to do with respect for collective bargaining autonomy and social partnership." And he warns: "If politicians are not careful, we will soon reach a tipping point where our economic model no longer works."

The accusation of breaking his word refers above all to Heil's recent statements on the work of the Minimum Wage Commission, in which the social partners are to develop proposals for the regular adjustment of the minimum wage regardless of political interference: Heil had expressed the expectation at Easter in the newspaper "Bild am Sonntag" and then also in front of television cameras that the Commission would decide on a "significant increase" in the minimum wage this year. The next decision of the body, in which three trade union and employer representatives are to find a reconciliation of interests, is due on 30 June and concerns the adjustment as of 1 January 2024.

Political interference is causing a stir

Sensitivity to such interference is increased anyway, as the traffic light coalition has just pushed through the Commission the minimum wage increase to 12 euros on October 1, 2022, an increase of 25 percent year-on-year. In addition, there had been many political assurances that this intervention would remain a one-time exception, including from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The Commission should work freely and independently – this is what the SPD and its former labour minister Andrea Nahles promised when the statutory minimum wage was introduced in 2015, Wolf recalls.

Against this background, the draft for a new working time law just presented by Heil's ministry is all the more resentful. In principle, this means that electronic time recording will be mandatory for all employment relationships in the future – even for those in which working time "is not measured or not determined in advance due to the special characteristics of the activity performed," as the draft states. Only with the explicit consent of a trade union would it still be permitted in such cases in the future for employers and employees to mutually waive time recording.

Wolf is not alone

It is not only Gesamtmetall that sees the planned set of paragraphs as the de facto abolition of so-called trust-based working hours. "This is an affront to employers and employees alike, who have been using this instrument for decades," says the mechanical engineering association VDMA. And Thomas Dietrich, Federal Guild Master of the Building Cleaning Trade, speaks of "policy for a factory gate republic" that takes "no account of practicality". Gesamtmetall boss Wolf sums up his verdict with these terms: "bureaucracy to the power of ten", "totally contradictory" and "violation of the coalition agreement".

In fact, the traffic light parties had agreed there that "flexible working time models (e.g. trust-based working hours) must continue to be possible". The bill formally fulfills this – but it defines the term "trust-based working time" differently than it is usually understood in everyday life: Accordingly, the term does not refer to a consensual renunciation of time recording, as has been widely used in creative or sales professions so far, for example. Rather, according to the draft law, it is "trust-based working time" if the employer does not specify the exact time of the start and end of work. And this should remain permitted – but linked to the new obligation to document the times in such a way that they can be checked by the authorities for two years. Otherwise, fines may be imposed.

No more new cumbersome requirements

"This is not trust-based working time, but flexitime," Wolf notes. "Should we thank the Minister of Labour for not banning flexitime?" At the same time, he attaches importance to the fact that behind all the criticism of the employers is not the goal of extending the framework of weekly working hours. However, it is not acceptable for the government to impose new cumbersome requirements on companies in an already increasingly difficult economic environment – especially since the new "Supply Chain Due Diligence Act" has just been imposed on them.

"All of this is constantly costing our companies even more time, more money and more personnel – resources that are then lacking in innovation and investment," criticizes the Gesamtmetall president. One of Germany's strengths so far has been the culture of a reconciliation of interests between the social partners, Wolf sums up his picture of the situation. "But we can only respond to a policy such as the one currently being pursued by the Minister of Labour with fundamental opposition."