Arbeiten um zu leben! / Work to live! On the history and current relevance of the struggle over working hours

Time has always been a contested territory, and its distribution is often understood as a "measure of freedom." How much time is spent on paid and unpaid work, and how much is available for personal use? This edited volume examines the trade union demand for reduced working hours since the 1970s from a sociological and historical perspective, drawing on a wide range of sources. It outlines debates surrounding company working hours as well as unpaid and care work. Conflicts over working hours have many dimensions. The everyday lives of employees are influenced not only by the regulation of the duration, timing, and distribution of working hours, but also by the intensification and flexibilization of work and the demands of care work. For trade unions, it has been and remains a constant challenge to translate these dimensions into time policies. Debates from previous decades offer starting points for current conflicts over working hours.