CDU on work and social affairs

The CDU wants to recruit a total of 10,000 additional early childhood educators for Hesse by 2028. To do so, the ongoing skilled-staff campaign is to be continued and stepped up together with municipalities.

Hesse needs more daycare teachers. The CDU wants to gain 10,000 new ones by 2028. Training should become easier and more attractive. Skilled workers from abroad should come too.

A pact on recruiting and developing staff is to be agreed with municipalities. The paid, practice-based training program (PivA) is to be expanded, vocational schools are to offer more places, and tuition at private schools for educators is to be dropped. Recruitment abroad is to be stepped up and foreign qualifications recognized faster. Career changes and moves from childminding into daycare centers are to become easier, alongside a part-time bachelor's program. Mixed "lion teams" of students, retirees and volunteers are to support staff.

The CDU wants job centers to once again give priority to placing people in work or training. To that end, it plans to push at the federal level for a change to the Social Code.

The CDU wants job centers to get people into work first. That should again be their main task. A federal law must change for this. The CDU wants to push for that at the federal level.

The party commits to an activating labor market policy that brings people into regular employment. It also plans a new further-training initiative to prepare people for new job profiles and digital demands. The CDU wants to keep the right to five days of educational leave for all employees. Balancing work and family is to improve, in part by expanding the "Frauen & Wirtschaft" coordination office.

The CDU wants working hours to take families' needs into account more and to allow more digital, location-independent work. Rigid rules are to give way to more flexible models such as family time accounts.

The CDU wants more flexible working hours. Parents should have more time for their children. They should be able to leave early on some days. They then work longer on other days. Working from home should also become easier.

The program says it will review the legal framework for flexible working-time arrangements between employers and employees. Its example is parents who leave early on certain days to pick up their child and make up the time on other days. At the federal level, the CDU wants to push for lower taxes, lower social security contributions and more flexibility. Advice services on mobile work and mental strain are also to be expanded.

The CDU wants to combine the state's social policy measures in a future fund and increase it to 150 million euros. It also wants to support the founding of social cooperatives and provide reliable backing for multigenerational centers.

The CDU wants to spend more money on social help. There will be a fund of 150 million euros. Clubs and charities can then plan safely. Social cooperatives should also get money. These are groups of citizens who offer social help together.

The fund builds on Hesse's existing social budget and is meant to give associations, charities and those affected planning security. Social cooperatives are to complement established welfare organizations; a funding program with start-up financing and legal advice for founders is planned. The program names multigenerational services, everyday help for families, independent living for people needing care or with disabilities, and projects against loneliness as fields of activity. Multigenerational centers are to receive lasting support.

The CDU wants to launch a state program against child poverty if the federal government fails to act, with a Hessisches Familiengeld (Hessian family allowance) at its core. It sees work as the best protection against poverty; jobless parents are to be helped into employment. Food banks are to receive higher funding permanently.

The CDU wants to fight poverty. Children especially should not be poor. It wants to bring in a family payment in Hesse. Parents without work should get help finding a job. Food banks should keep getting money.

The program relies on active job placement, training and a higher employment rate. An agenda for parents in work is to support unemployed parents. The CDU expects the federal government to bundle and simplify aid for children in need. The increased grants to food banks are to become permanent, and hurdles for food donations are to be lowered. Support for older people should be easy to access so that no one forgoes entitlements out of shame or because of paperwork. Reforms of old-age provision should also reflect inflation.

The CDU wants to improve the situation of people with disabilities and expand accessibility. The action plan for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to be reissued. Inclusion should follow individual needs, which for the CDU includes special-needs schools.

The CDU wants to support people with disabilities better. State buildings should be free of barriers. Public offices should be easy for everyone to use. Special-needs schools should stay. There should be more sign language interpreters.

The state is to identify which of its publicly accessible buildings are not yet barrier-free and convert them where possible. A pilot project on accessible administration is to guide municipalities; private providers such as banks should also become more accessible. Special-needs schools and special housing are to be kept and expanded, and the state program for severely disabled people in the job market continued. Accessible housing is to be strengthened through the building code and subsidies. For allowances for deaf and deafblind people, the CDU wants better services such as sign language interpreters and plans deaf education as a university program and training course.

The CDU wants to expand the "Aktion Generation" funding program so that municipalities can make everyday life more senior-friendly. It also plans a Grandparents' Day, an "Innovation Prize 60 Plus," and more opportunities for volunteering, education and media skills in old age.

The CDU wants to do more for older people. Towns and villages should get money for senior-friendly projects. There should be a Grandparents' Day. Older people should find it easier to volunteer and to study. They should also get help with using the internet.

Grandparents' Day is to be held on a Sunday that has yet to be chosen. An "Innovation Prize 60 Plus" is meant to spread older people's ideas across the state. The voluntary social year (Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr) is to be opened more widely to seniors, and fees for senior studies at universities are to be dropped. Older people should be able to get involved in daycare centers and schools through mentoring; a visiting service called "Zeit auf Rädern" (time on wheels) is to be examined. The programs "Digital im Alter – Di@-Lotsen" and "Senioren im Netz" are to continue and receive more money if needed. Public offices are to keep non-digital access, and senior councils and senior organizations are to get more support.