Business associations reject new public holiday in Brandenburg
Business associations have rejected a proposal by the Brandenburg SPD to make Women's Day on March 8 a public holiday. At the state party conference of the Brandenburg Social Democrats at the weekend, a motion by the youth organization Jusos received a majority.
"An additional public holiday for Brandenburg doesn't fit the times at all. It would reduce prosperity in the state by around 107 million euros," criticized Alexander Schirp, Managing Director of the Federation of Berlin-Brandenburg Business Associations (UVB), on Monday. "In view of the extremely difficult economic situation, companies need every single working day to make ends meet."
In addition, the annual working hours of employees in Germany are already lower than in any other industrialized country, said Schirp. "It would be negligent for Brandenburg to weaken itself with such a decision. (...) Hands off any further reduction in working hours."
Last year, the left-wing parliamentary group in the state parliament in Potsdam failed with a motion to make March 8 a public holiday. The SPD parliamentary group was against it at the time, as were the other governing CDU and Green parliamentary groups. Following the decision at the SPD party conference at the weekend, the state parliamentary group is now being asked to examine the introduction of an additional public holiday.
International Women's Day has been a public holiday in Berlin since 2019 and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since this year.
Despite the success of the Jusos' motion in the Brandenburg SPD party conference, some businesses, such as the Federation of Berlin-Brandenburg Business Associations, strongly oppose the proposal to make Women's Day a public holiday, fearing potential financial losses and strain on businesses during difficult economic times. The rejections of such holidays have been a common theme, with the left-wing parliamentary group in Potsdam failing to achieve this in the past, as well as opposition from the SPD and other governing parties.
Source: www.dpa.com
