Debate around May 1st: Should public holidays be made up for?

As of: 05/01/2022 5:31 p.m

If public holidays fall on a weekend, this is annoying for most people – because a day off is lost. In some countries, public holidays will then be made up for. A model for Germany too?

Employees will lose three public holidays this year: May 1st and December 25th are Sundays, New Year’s Day falls on a Saturday. Only Day of German Unity and Boxing Day fall on working days. In other countries, such public holidays, if they fall on a weekend, are made up for on the next working day, for example in Belgium, Spain or Great Britain.

Some politicians now want to promote this in Germany as well. Because of the “lost” May Day, the debate is picking up speed again.

Advances from the Left Party

The left in the Bundestag wants to “act promptly” “so that there will be no more public holidays in the future and social cohesion in the country will be strengthened,” Jan Korte, parliamentary director of the parliamentary group, recently told the “Rheinische Post”. Until then, he had asked employers to give their employees an additional day off – also as a corona bonus.

His party colleague Katja Kipping, Senator for Labor in Berlin, wants to enforce this for the capital. “It’s about giving the employees something back that was taken away from them by a coincidence in the calendar,” she told the “Tagesspiegel”. In Germany, public holidays are a matter for the state, so Kipping sees himself as responsible.

The Thuringian Labor Minister Heike Werner, also from the Left Party, made a similar statement. “Across all jobs, the burden is constantly increasing. Now is the right time to do something to relieve the burden on employees,” she said. Such a rule should apply nationwide.

Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil said that the topic is “not currently the top priority” for the federal government, even if he finds the debate “not at all unsympathetic”. Labor Day is about working with value and dignity, said the SPD politician.

Working hours expert warns

The working time expert at the Institute of German Business, which is close to employers, Christoph Schröder, cited competitiveness as an argument against more days off: “Germany has the shortest annual working hours in the EU and at the same time, together with Denmark, has the most days off.”

Belgium, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, would not have more public holidays than Germany, even with their catch-up holidays. Spain, on the other hand, is far ahead with 14 public holidays – but there are only 22 vacation days there.

Schröder makes it clear: “The state should not encourage employees to work less through additional regulations.”

Criticism from Bavaria

Criticism of the left-wing push came from Bavaria. He “shows once again that nobody would miss the Left Party,” commented the Bavarian Labor Minister Ulrike Scharf of the CSU. At least in Bavaria, no similar proposal has been made by either side. “For us, public holidays are more a part of the Bavarian way of life and go back to centuries-old customs and traditions. An arbitrary shift would not fit.”

However, Bavaria already has one of the most public holidays: twelve nationwide, in the predominantly Catholic communities, the Assumption Day is added as the 13th. And in the city of Augsburg there is a day on top with the Peace Festival on August 8th – the nationwide top position.

In Germany, on the other hand, there are only nine public holidays: In addition to the Day of German Unity and New Year, these are the Christian holidays at Easter, Pentecost, Christmas and Ascension Day. Most federal states have introduced ten or eleven state-wide public holidays, Baden-Württemberg twelve.

source site