German metal workers have won the right to a 28-hour working week in a landmark deal between employers and Europe’s biggest union.

Under the deal, workers will be allowed to reduce their working week to just 28 hours for a temporary period of up to two years. Employers will not be able to block individual workers from taking up the offer.

Those who take advantage of the deal will only be paid for the hours worked and at the end of two years they will have to return to the current 35-hour working week.

The collective deal was agreed by IG Metall, Europe’s largest industrial union, and for now only covers around 900,000 workers in the metals and electrical industries in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg.

But the state, home to major German industrial companies like Bosch and Daimler, the makers of Mercedes, is often seen as a weather vane for the German economy and it is likely to be rolled out across the whole economy.

The deal is seen as testament to the growing influence of German unions against a backdrop of the country’s strong economic performance and low unemployment.