Grüne on work and social affairs

The Greens want to give apprentices a grant toward their driver's license, split evenly between the state and the training company. This is meant to ease entry into occupations where a license is often expected and help fill open apprenticeship slots.

Many companies cannot find apprentices. The Greens want to give apprentices money for a driver's license. The state pays one half. The company pays the other half.

The grant would be funded jointly by the state and the training company, each paying half. The party also wants to use housing subsidies to create affordable homes for apprentices and employees, especially in tourism regions. Both measures are meant to help attract more skilled workers.

The Greens want to strengthen works councils and employee co-determination and oppose union busting. They also want to act against abuse of temporary agency work and service contracts and achieve equal pay for women.

The Greens want good and fair work. Works councils should become stronger. No one should abuse temp work. Women should get the same pay for the same work.

The party wants to fund initiatives to set up works councils, especially in small and mid-sized companies, and secure related advisory services. Youth and trainee representation bodies are to play a stronger role. Fixed-term contracts without objective reason would be reduced in state ministries, and posted workers would be better protected through counseling. Through the Bundesrat, the party wants to push for maternity protection for self-employed women. Lifetime working-time accounts are planned for civil servants.

The Greens want to broaden the state law on collective-wage compliance and minimum wages in public contracts. The aim is to strengthen collective bargaining coverage and protect regional firms from undercutting bids, for example in construction.

The state gives contracts to companies. The Greens want these companies to pay fair wages. The minimum wage for such contracts should go up. The rules should apply to more contracts.

The law would also cover regional collective agreements, and the contract value above which it applies would be lowered. The minimum wage for public contracts would match the lowest pay grade in the public-sector collective agreement. In local public transport, wage compliance would also apply when contracts are awarded jointly with other German states or neighboring countries. The revision is meant to involve little bureaucracy.

The Greens want to integrate people with disabilities more effectively into the regular labor market. Accommodations, certified partial qualifications and advantages for inclusive companies in public contracting are meant to help.

The Greens want more people with disabilities in regular jobs. They should get support to make up for disadvantages. Inclusive companies should get state contracts more often. Inclusion means everyone can take part.

The party calls for effective accommodations in vocational training, university and employment. Certified partial qualifications are meant to ease the path into regular jobs. In public procurement, inclusion companies and firms with accessible workplaces would be given more weight. Information from employment and integration offices would be brought directly to businesses. Employers who go beyond their legal duties would be supported and recognized.

The Greens want to provide more money for anti-poverty counseling and put the state's programs for the unemployed on a permanent footing. The goal is to move people into the regular labor market through training and coaching.

The Greens want to give better help to people without work. There should be more counseling for people in debt. People at risk of losing their home also get help. A state program for the unemployed should get permanent funding.

More funding would go to counseling that prevents poverty, especially for debt and the threat of losing one's home. The unemployment counseling centers and the BeJuga component (employment support combined with youth services) would be better funded and offered in more locations. A new component would provide low-threshold training and integration jobs for the long-term unemployed. The party wants to secure social employment providers for the long term and strengthen the subsidized labor market as a bridge into regular work.

The Greens want to implement the Bundesteilhabegesetz (Federal Participation Act), which governs benefits for people with disabilities, in a simpler and more person-centered way. Routine reassessments of entitlements could be replaced by reviews triggered by a specific reason.

People with disabilities get help under a federal law. The Greens want to make the process simpler. Offices should not keep checking claims again and again. They should only check when there is a reason.

Once the need has been established, the funding bodies are to settle among themselves, with the consent of the person concerned, who pays for which benefit. Typical basic needs, for example with sensory disabilities, can be granted as a flat rate. The state is supporting municipalities with a one-time payment of more than 200 million euros for the Federal Participation Act and the inclusion compensation act.

The Greens want to continue the state's continuing-education initiative and create a qualification income that lets working people take time off to learn. They justify this with changes in the world of work and the need to secure skilled labor.

The world of work is changing a lot. So the Greens want more further training. Workers should be able to take time off to learn. They should get money during that time.

The initiative "WEITER.mit.BILDUNG@BW" is to be developed further, including specifically for older workers. Programs for a second vocational qualification are to become permanent. The state strategy for literacy and basic education is to continue with secure funding. At universities, structures for academic continuing education and funds for networking with business are to grow; the party intends to press the EU and the federal government for simpler legal rules.

The Greens want to give more support to the "Housing First" approach in order to reduce homelessness over the long term. Existing pilot projects are to continue permanently, and new locations are to receive money and advice.

Some people have no home. With "Housing First" they get a home first. Other help comes after that. The Greens want to offer this in more places. The state gives money and advice for it.

The platform calls a home of one's own a foundation for a life in dignity. Those affected should be able to keep their housing as stably as possible. Besides the pilot projects, the existing funding programs are also to be strengthened.

The Greens want people with disabilities or support needs to be able to choose freely how they live. To that end, inclusive and outpatient-supported forms of housing are to be expanded, suitable assistance secured and bureaucratic hurdles reduced.

People with disabilities should decide for themselves how they live. The Greens want to create more suitable housing for this. There should be good help in daily life. Applications should become simpler.

The party regards self-determined housing as a basic right, not a privilege. The funding program „Gemeinsam unterstützt und versorgt wohnen“ for assisted shared-living arrangements is to be relaunched. People living in special residential settings should receive services tailored to the individual, even with high assistance needs. Housing that promotes participation and social inclusion is to be created across the state.

The Greens want to review the per-place funding for organizations running the Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr and Freiwilliges Ökologisches Jahr (voluntary social and ecological years) and give them planning certainty. A statewide advertising campaign for volunteer service is under consideration.

Young people can do a voluntary year. It is called FSJ or FÖJ. The Greens want to check how much money the providers get. Providers should be able to plan with confidence.

According to the platform, volunteer service contributes to social cohesion and to young people's civic education, and demand remains high. The Greens will examine whether the state should fund an advertising campaign. The pilot project for a voluntary educational year in schools is to be expanded to strengthen the teaching profession and give young people insight into educational careers.

The Greens want to strengthen debt counseling and anti-poverty services, expand Housing First programs and prevent people from losing their homes. Child poverty is to be tackled with prevention networks, and a state initiative is to address loneliness.

Some people have debts or lose their homes. The Greens want to give them more help. Poor children are to get support early. The Greens also want to do something about loneliness.

The platform justifies this by saying that more people are falling into financial hardship through unemployment, illness or divorce. Housing First means homeless people first get a home of their own and then further support. Single parents are to be relieved through part-time vocational training, reliable childcare and targeted support. The state initiative "Gemeinsam gegen Einsamkeit" (together against loneliness) is to raise awareness and promote social contact through new projects.