Linke boss Janine Wissler has spoken out in favor of compensating for public holidays that fall on a Sunday. The Greens and SPD have also recently been open to such a regulation. This is already being implemented in other European countries.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are no cause for celebration for employees this year: both days fall on a Sunday. If you want to spend more time with family and friends, you have to take valuable annual leave.

Janine Wissler, head of the Left Party, is therefore demanding consequences. “We now have a very large number of people suffering from chronic overwork, burnout and depression. That’s why we think it’s necessary and right to catch up on such holidays,” Wissler told t-online. “The compression of work continues to increase.”

Specifically, Wissler calls for employees in Germany to be given free working days as compensation instead. This is currently being implemented in Belgium, Luxembourg and Great Britain. It’s even more relaxed in Australia: Every employee there gets the next working day off after a public holiday.

In the past, similar demands were also supported by the SPD and the Greens. However, the Union parties and the traffic light partner FDP are critical of the project. Implementation postponed.