Two major German employers' lobby groups called for workers to be banned from smoking cigarettes during work hours, saying it harmed productivity and cost firms money.

Mario Ohoven, president of the BVMW association of German medium-sized firms, told the most-read German daily, Bild: "We've got to put an end to lighting up during work hours. Cigarette breaks cost firms money and disrupt the flow of the working day."
Another entrepreneur, Ursula Frerichs, from the UMW association of mid-sized businesses, said: "Additional breaks for smokers should be banned. Non-smokers should not be put at a disadvantage."
But the call ran into immediate opposition. Such an initiative "would hardly contribute to a good atmosphere in companies," said Martina Perreng from the DGB trade union federation, while member of parliament Karl Lauterbach, who supports strict non-smoking policies at work, said that to also ban short smoking breaks outside the building would be "a step toward a non-smoker's dictatorship." (pi)