Eight-hour day in danger: Union warns of health risks!

Eight-hour day in danger: Union warns of health risks!

At a time when the world of work is constantly changing, the discussion about working hours in Germany is heated. The Food, Pleasure and Restaurants union (NGG) has now sounded the alarm and is calling for the eight-hour day to be defended as an integral part of everyday working life. The enormous importance of this regulation is particularly evident in Weiden and the surrounding districts when you consider that employees in Weiden work around 124,000 hours a day. In the Neustadt/WN district there are even around 134,000 hours, followed by around 117,000 hours in the Tirschenreuth district, as reported by oberpfalzecho.de.

But what is at stake? The NGG urgently points out the health risks associated with longer and unplanned working days. Rainer Reißfelder from the NGG emphasizes that the workload is exploding, particularly in the areas of crafts, industry, services and trade. The union criticizes efforts at the federal level that provide for the possibility of 12-hour shifts and thus want to weaken the eight-hour day. The potential for burnout, depression, diabetes and other health problems increases with each additional hour that employees work beyond the statutory limit.

Political debate and health risks

The discussion about working hours is becoming even more intense due to the efforts of the new federal government, which wants to introduce a maximum weekly working time that replaces a daily maximum working time. According to boeckler.de, this could lead to the release of daily working hours of over 12 hours. Such a regulation would not only make working conditions untenable, but would also make it even more difficult to combine work and family life. HSI experts warn that deregulation of working hours could exacerbate health problems.

The feared consequences of this development are not unfounded: Studies show that working more than 41 hours a week increases the risk of stroke by 10%, and even by 33% for 55 hours. From the eighth hour of work onwards, the accident rate increases exponentially. The NGG is therefore calling on its members to become part of the DGB campaign “With power for the 8” and thus set an example for maintaining the maximum working hours.

What does the future say?

The long-term goal must be to find a healthy balance between work and everyday life. The key data shows that in 2023 the number of employed people in Germany reached a peak of 46 million people. Despite the high employment rate of women, which rose by an impressive 16 percentage points to 73 percent between 1991 and 2022, the average annual working time remains falling, from 1,478 hours (1991) to 1,295 hours (2023). This is a positive trend, but if the working time law is further undermined, this development could falter.

The NGG therefore appeals not only to politicians, but also to all employees to raise their voices for the preservation of the eight-hour day. Only together can we succeed in securing working conditions and protecting the health of employees. It remains to be seen whether the parties from Weiden, Neustadt/WN and Tirschenreuth will take the unions' concerns seriously and set the course for a fair working world.