Volvo boss declares 35-hour week outdated: "Germany needs to pull itself together"

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Volvo boss declares 35-hour week outdated: "Germany needs to pull itself together".

You work 35 hours a week and wonder whether this model even has a future in Germany? That's exactly what's being debated right now — and the tone is getting rougher. Volvo boss Håkan Samuelsson considers the 35-hour week no longer fit for the times and is piling on with blunt words.

That puts a prominent international auto-industry manager squarely against a working-time model that has been firmly anchored in many German collective bargaining agreements for decades. Samuelsson's message comes from the C-suite of a Swedish group that operates plants in Germany and pays its local workforce under collective agreements.

Power-tool maker Stihl is also backing the Volvo boss: according to the information available, Stihl is demanding 40 hours per week — without pay compensation for its employees.

What exactly did Samuelsson say?

The Volvo boss makes no secret of his opinion in his remarks. Germany needs to "pull itself together," the message that emerges from his statement. He sees the 35-hour week as no longer fitting in today's economic world.

What exactly his demands look like in detail — whether he names a specific number of hours or is generally lobbying for more flexibility and longer working hours — cannot be gleaned from the information available. What is clear, however, is the thrust: away from the status quo.

Stihl demands 40 hours without compensation

Not only Volvo, but Stihl also apparently wants to extend the weekly working time. According to the information available, the company is demanding 40 hours per week — without pay compensation for its employees. That would increase the effective weekly working time by five hours, without salaries being adjusted accordingly.

The demand carries particular weight because it cuts straight into workers' pay packets: more work for the same money. In Germany's collective-bargaining landscape, that is a very direct move.

What does this mean for the debate?

The 35-hour week has been considered a symbol of collective-bargaining compromises between employers and unions in Germany for decades. International competitiveness, demographic change and the transformation of industry, however, regularly force the question of optimal working time to be raised anew.

With Samuelsson's and Stihl's demands, the discussion is getting fresh ammunition. What follows politically and in terms of collective bargaining remains to be seen — but one thing is clear: the 35-hour week is back on the testing bench in the business elite, and it is no coincidence that it is precisely industrial companies with high value-added in Germany that are stepping up the pressure.