Part-time: “No legal right to lifestyle part-time” – CDU initiative triggers sheer incomprehension among the many SPD | EUROtoday

After the CDU enterprise wing’s push for a reform of the authorized proper to part-time work, a number of representatives of the coalition associate SPD expressed criticism.

The SPD Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, clearly rejected the suggestion in “Stern”. “The CDU is not wise when it constantly announces that people in Germany don’t work enough,” she stated.

Employees in Germany confirmed full dedication every single day, emphasised Schwesig. “That shouldn’t be downplayed.” There are totally different the explanation why individuals work part-time. “And the state should not differentiate between good and bad reasons,” stated the Social Democrat. Instead, the compatibility of household and work or care and work have to be improved.

The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Alexander Schweitzer (SPD), additionally expressed incomprehension: “The term ‘part-time lifestyle’ is an attack on many people who organize their lives and sometimes also have to fight,” he stated on Deutschlandfunk. He does not know anybody who works much less to spend extra time on the golf course.

In a paper revealed on Sunday by the CDU enterprise wing entitled “No legal right to lifestyle part-time”, the SME and Economic Union (MIT) is looking for a reform of the authorized proper to part-time: In the long run, this could “only apply if there is a special justification”. “Special reasons can include, for example, raising children, caring for relatives or in-service training and further education,” the applying continues.

“People in Germany are already working at their limits in many cases,” stated the social coverage spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Annika Klose, to “Spiegel”. “The Union’s approach to increasing the pressure on employees with its proposals is a wrong path and leads to a dead end: to higher burnout rates or an earlier exit from working life.”

Sharp criticism from the Greens, the Left and economists

Green parliamentary group chief Katharina Dröge stated: “With the term ‘lifestyle part-time’, the CDU paints a false picture of the reality of life for women and older people.”

Left parliamentary group chief Pellmann stated that the financial union’s demand had nothing to do with a contemporary understanding of the world of labor: “It is brazen to force people to ask for permission for part-time work, the cause of which is often politics or poor working conditions.”

Economists additionally criticized the transfer. The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, advised the “Rheinische Post” {that a} restriction on the authorized proper to part-time work “would cause great damage to many companies and the German economy”. Many full-time staff would love diminished working hours, he identified.

A corresponding regulation would subsequently “go strongly against the wishes of many Germans,” stated Fratzscher. Because this is able to “tend to reduce rather than increase employment and thus further increase the shortage of skilled workers in Germany”. This additionally threatens an extra enhance in bankruptcies.