Social partner dialogue requires genuine willingness to reform
BDA-CEO Steffen Kampeter on the planned social partner dialogue in the Coalition Committee:
Social partner dialogue requires genuine willingness to reform
Berlin, 13 May 2026. “Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas is right: the social partner dialogue on working time has failed. It has failed above all due to the lack of willingness on the part of the trade unions to even discuss changes to the current working time legislation or to seriously examine reform options. These positions were explicitly confirmed at the trade union congress.
The BDA is, of course, at all times ready to engage constructively in discussions on modern and practical design options for a reform of the Working Time Act. However, this presupposes a genuine willingness on the part of all those involved to make substantive progress.”
