BSW on work and social affairs

The BSW wants to reform the procedure used to determine whether someone is self-employed or an employee. Clients should again be able to hire self-employed people without legal risk. At the same time, everyone who works, including the self-employed, should pay into the social insurance systems.

Companies and schools should be able to hire freelancers safely. The BSW wants to change the checking rules for this. All working people should pay into social insurance. That would include the self-employed too.

The program attributes the decline in new businesses partly to court rulings on bogus self-employment and how the pension insurance agency applies them. Music schools, adult education centers and companies should be able to award contracts without fearing back payments or criminal proceedings. The condition is that contractors do not work mainly for a single client over a long period. Teachers at music schools and in adult education should get a job with social insurance if they want one.

The BSW wants to raise the minimum wage to 15 euros immediately and keep it permanently above the poverty line. Minijobs would be converted into regular jobs with social insurance, and fixed-term contracts without objective reason would end. The party cites wage dumping and workers' lack of planning security.

The BSW wants a minimum wage of 15 euros an hour. It should apply right away. Minijobs should become normal jobs with social insurance. The BSW rejects temporary contracts without a reason.

Later increases would follow the EU minimum wage directive, meaning 60 percent of median income. The BSW wants legislation to end abuse of contracts for work and temp agency work. Fixed-term contracts with objective reason should become much rarer, and the party rejects chains of successive fixed-term contracts. The steps are also meant to narrow the pay gap between women and men. The BSW likewise rejects unpaid waiting days when employees fall ill.

The BSW wants far more workers covered by collective agreements. Public contracts and subsidies would go only to companies that pay union-scale wages. Works councils should be easier to set up and get more say.

The BSW wants more collective wage agreements. The state should give contracts only to firms paying those wages. Works councils should be easier to start. Workers should have more say.

According to the platform, only 49 percent of employment contracts are still covered by collective agreements. It should become easier to declare agreements generally binding. People who initiate a works council election should be better protected against dismissal. Employees should also take part in strategic company decisions. The BSW wants to stop ways around German co-determination, such as converting into a European stock corporation.

The BSW wants to replace Bürgergeld (citizen's income) with expanded unemployment insurance and a basic benefit. Long-term contributors would get 60 percent of their last net pay until a suitable job is found. Benefit abuse would be checked more closely.

The BSW wants to replace Bürgergeld (citizen's income). People who worked for a long time should get unemployment pay longer. That is 60 percent of their last net pay. People who refuse training without good reason face consequences.

The period for meeting the required insurance time would be extended, and childcare and caring for relatives would count. Self-employed people would get access to unemployment insurance. Against undeclared work while drawing benefits, the platform calls for more customs inspections. Training offers come with a duty to cooperate. Job centers would get more staff and money, and the party wants to prioritize training young people in Germany rather than mainly recruiting skilled workers abroad. It also calls for incentives for accessible workplaces and more consistent implementation of the UN disability rights convention.