The town of Leuna, in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, is one of the country's largest chemical industry hub, where more than 100 companies have established operations. Among them is the Finnish biotechnology group UPM, which has recently built a biorefinery for wood-based chemicals in Leuna. It's now hiring.
One of the job listings is for a chemical technician to oversee the rollout of new facilities. But to qualify, candidates must be willing to work 12-hour shifts. Is that legal? According to German law, standard working hours are limited to eight hours per day. It is permissible to extend this to ten hours, provided that workers receive compensatory time off for the overtime, and there must be at least 11 hours of rest between two shifts.
Twelve-hour shifts? What German law permits
Business associations and the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties have long called for these rules to be made more flexible.
Rainer Dulger, president of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), points to the European Working Time Directive, which allows for a maximum weekly working time of 48 hours. "The allowance is being taken advantage of almost everywhere else — except here," Dulger told the dpa news agency in August.
Companies say they often find the existing rules too rigid, particularly in industries with seasonal fluctuations — such as tourism — or in project-based work, or during irregular peaks in workload, such as in the restaurant industry. They could deploy their staff more efficiently, says Dulger: "The Working Hours Act dates back to the era of fax machines and rotary-dial phones. It knows nothing of laptops or daycare hours."
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CDU and SPD divided on working hours
In their 2025 coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) agreed to reform the Working Hours Act. "In keeping with the European Working Time Directive, we want to allow for a maximum weekly rather than daily working time — also and especially to promote a better work-life balance," the agreement said.
The SPD would have preferred to leave the law unchanged, but had to accept the conservative parties' plans. The Social Democrats pointed out that longer working hours are already permitted in exceptional cases, such as in emergency services, the health care sector and security services. Workers in power plants, refineries and the chemical industry are also allowed to work up to 12 hours at a time.
A surprise for Chancellor Friedrich Merz
Even Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself seemed unaware of this exception until quite recently. After visiting the UPM refinery in Leuna in September, he recounted to business leaders at the German Employers' Day in Berlin that he was "completely surprised" to learn that the facilities operate on a continuous 12-hour shift schedule, thanks to the approval of the works council.
Merz recounted the shift supervisor describing the work schedule as "really great" — with three-day work weeks. "He said we have plenty of time for our families — it's a great way to organize things." Merz went on to conclude that this demonstrates the benefits of relaxing the Working Hours Act.
"Working more than eight hours is not exploitation. Rather, it can be a good opportunity to organize working hours more flexibly — both for businesses and for the people working there," the chancellor said. "We should do it."
SPD agrees to longer working hours, but with conditions
But there is resistance from within the SPD and from trade unions opposed to amending the Working Hours Act. The trade union Verdi argues that significantly longer workdays would have negative consequences for employees' health and would disadvantage people with family and caregiving responsibilities. In certain industries, employees could also be put under pressure to accept longer shifts.
An initial reform draft was drawn up in June 2026 by the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, headed at the time by Bärbel Bas, an SPD politician who has since resigned for personal reasons.
The draft includes some conditions, including a collective bargaining agreement between employers and unions if any schedule changes were made, as well as health and safety regulations, and working hours to be tracked electronically.
Dispute over collective bargaining rights and worker protection
Annika Klose, spokesperson for labor and social policy for the SPD parliamentary group, explained the thinking behind the idea. Flexibility, she said, is "not a one-way street." The coalition agreement explicitly aims to promote a better balance between family and work. "So that it's sometimes possible to take your child to football practice in the afternoon and then continue working afterward — but not that my boss tells me against my will: 'You're working the shift from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow.'"
The CDU/CSU immediately rejected the draft. Businesses were also up in arms. "This draft must be withdrawn and completely revised," demanded Dulger in a statement, saying it was "steeped in mistrust." The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) spoke of a "breach of the commitments agreed to in the coalition agreement." The reform has been on hold ever since.
Why the reform stalled
At the Employers' Day event, Merz held out the prospect of progress. "This is indeed long overdue. I believe we can accomplish this relatively quickly and create flexibility in the labor market."
It remains to be seen, however, whether the new SPD Labor Minister, Alexander Schweitzer, shares this view. In early October, his party released a paper on reforming working hours that read like a declaration of war against the CDU. "Self-determination, Not Deregulation" is the title of the seven-page document that was signed by the SPD working group on labor, the youth organization Jusos, the "60plus" working group and the women's wing of the SPD.
In the paper, the Social Democrats not only reiterate the points that already appeared in Bas' draft back in June. They also demand that, in the future, employers and employees should decide on working hours "jointly and by mutual agreement." They argued that it is not "in the spirit of a modern reform of working time law" if only employers can determine when employees finish work.
From a political perspective, the dispute over reforming work hours has long become more than just a debate over legal provisions. It is a fundamental dispute over how much flexibility workers should be expected to tolerate in the future and to what extent the state should protect them. And it is yet another stumbling block for the already beleaguered government in Berlin.
This article was translated from German.