7/18/2023 4:26 pm (act. 7/18/2023 4:26 pm)
The great heat in Germany has given rise to the debate about siesta in certain professional groups. ©APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER (symbol image)
In Germany, due to the extreme heat, the debate broke out about working with naps based on the model of the regions of southern Europe.
The construction, agriculture and environment union (IG BAU) in Germany is quite open to this. “Of course we have to protect employees who have to work outside in this sweltering heat,” said President Robert Feiger. However, the model is nothing to build and helps harvest. Construction union Austro sees it similarly
Debate over siesta exploded due to heat in Germany
Shifting work into the early hours of the morning and late at night isn’t as easy for certain occupational groups, such as construction workers, harvest workers or cleaning staff, Feiger explained. For construction workers, for example, there are conflicts with noise protection when working before 7 am. Spending a siesta with an afternoon nap on a construction site or in the field is generally difficult.
Construction union calls Siesta “unrealistic”
The idea of introducing a siesta based on the Spanish model, which environmental doctor Hans-Peter Hutter of MedUni Vienna recently suggested in Austria, for example, was recently suggested by leading construction unionist, head of the FSG and SPÖ politician Josef Muchitsch for the construction. It was “unrealistic” and “illogical” to return to the construction site at night, after a few hours without heating. “So what the fuck, that’s amazing,” he said. “We start at 6 am at the construction site and work for six to eight hours every day before the high temperatures arrive”, the unionist explained his reservation.
“In the heat, we must orient ourselves to the work methods of the countries of the south”
In Germany, the president of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service advised this way of working on Tuesday before the reaction of the German union. “We should be guided by the way the countries of the south work when it’s hot: waking up early, working productively in the morning and taking a siesta at midday is a concept that we should adopt in the summer months,” said association head Johannes Nießen, to the editorial. network Germany (RND).
State aid for lack of working hours
“In these temperatures, where the thermometer now repeatedly hits the 40-degree mark, there is only one thing to do: get out of the building, out of the field, out of the dirty terrace,” said the German trade unionist. State aid must then be used to pay for lost working hours.
No heat for jobs above 30 degrees in Austria during construction
Heat-free work at temperatures above 30 degrees is only under construction in Austria – and only in exceptional cases. From 32.5 degrees for more than three hours, permission is granted on a voluntary basis. There is no legal right. Whether it will actually be released “depends on the economy,” Muchitsch recently told the APA. If there are full order books combined with tight construction schedules, workers would “be forced” to keep working; if there were no full order books, the regulation would be released from 32.5 degrees, more likely to be used, according to the national president of the Bau-Holz union, it requires a legal right rather than voluntariness.