Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder believes employees in Germany should work more overall. Speaking on the ARD program Bericht aus Berlin on Sunday evening, the CSU leader said: “One more hour of work per week would bring us enormous economic growth and is really not too much to ask.” Söder also backed Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s (CDU) call to end the option of obtaining sick notes by phone.
Söder added that he would also support introducing a so-called waiting day in the event of illness. This would mean that employees receive no pay on their first day of sick leave. “On bridge days, Germany is always a bit sicker than at other times,” Söder said.
However, the proposal was sharply rejected by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Minister President Manuela Schwesig (SPD). “I do not share at all the view that Germans work too little,” she said. The debate sparked by the conservatives, she argued, ignores the reality of many people’s lives.
Schwesig also dismissed demands from within the conservative bloc to cut social benefits such as unemployment support in order to reduce labor-related costs. “The problem of high unemployment is not that people work too little, but that many jobs are currently being cut, and the chancellor needs to address that,” she said, referring to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).
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