German left-wing party Die Linke has demanded a reduction in working hours when workplace temperatures rise above certain levels.
In a position paper called “Heat protection is work protection”, Jan van Aken, Die Linke’s leader, proposed cutting working hours by 25 per cent when temperatures at work rose above 26°C and mandatory breaks of 10 minutes every hour.
If temperatures surpassed 30°C, worktime should be cut by half and 10-minutes breaks be kept every half hour. Employers would furthermore be required to provide water and fans for their workers.
Other heat protection measures suggested in the internal paper reportedly included free sunscreen dispensers at beaches and more water fountains in cities.
“The climate crisis is also a social crisis. Those who have to toil under burning sun or are sitting in overheated offices are often paying with their own health”, van Aken told German news outlet RND.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who can concentrate and work effectively in the office when it’s thirty degrees and above. The heat and sun put a strain on your performance and your body! This can lead to health problems,” he continued.
“This applies to working in the office or doing hard physical labour on the street.”
Van Aken urged the new German Government to put his demands into law by July 2025.
Die Linke was the successor organisation of the former East German unity party SED.
It won 11 per cent of the vote in the German general election in February 2025, mainly by appealing to nostalgic older Eastern Germans. It also targeted younger voters with a social media campaign focused on anti-capitalism and promises of jacking up social welfare even further.
Ulf Poschardt, a libertarian publicist, said Die Linke was “mainly appealing to young lazy people”.
The demand for “heat holidays” was just one of many curious ideas launched by Die Linke in the past months.
Heidi Reichinnek, one of the party’s young faces, recently suggested the nationalisation of German railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) to improve services – apparently ignorant of the fact that DB was already 100 per cent State-owned.
Commentators warned that the party’s friendly façade may just hide an ideology that has not changed since the time of the German Democratic Republic.
Publicist Poschardt said behind the public image, Die Linke was displaying “the final destination is expropriation and gulag”.
