Grüne on work and social affairs

The Greens want older people to be able to live in their familiar surroundings for as long as they wish. Short distances, accessibility, meeting places and good neighborhood services are meant to make that possible. The decline of local shops and services is to be reversed and loneliness in old age addressed.

Older people should be able to live well in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Shops, doctors and meeting places should be close by. The Greens want to do something about loneliness. Helpers should visit older people at home. There should also be services for older queer people.

Plans include barrier-free districts with nearby green spaces and seating, as well as adaptation to heat. Neighborhood help is to be linked with professional social and health services, and neighborhood centers offering such services are to be expanded. Outreach work for seniors, with preventive home visits and coordinated visits by volunteers, is to be extended. Public meeting places are meant to counter isolation and strengthen volunteering. Standard services are to open up interculturally to better reach older migrants, and dedicated services for older queer people are to be developed.

The Greens want to give more funding to neighborhood support networks, community centers, service centers and meeting places. Digital services are meant to help reduce loneliness in old age. The seniors' council is to remain involved in political decisions.

The Greens want to give more support to neighbors helping each other. This includes meeting places and centers in the neighborhood. Older people should get help with the internet. This should help against loneliness. The seniors' council should keep having a say.

The platform relies on mutual help among neighbors and on public facilities offering social and health services with dedicated contact persons. This work is to receive more funding and be adapted to changing needs. Digital participation should be open to people of all ages, at home as well as in senior care facilities. The platform regards Bremen's seniors' council as the voice of all older people and wants to keep it involved as a political partner.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for a higher Bürgergeld (citizen's income) that rises with the cost of living. Bremen's own city and state programs are meant to let people on basic income support take part in social and cultural life. The party backs the Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance).

The Greens want a higher Bürgergeld. That is the basic income support. It should go up when prices go up. They will push for this at the federal level. Bremen should help with its own programs. Poor people should be able to take part in culture and leisure. The Greens support a basic child allowance.

The platform calls fighting poverty a central goal and points to families, children, women and older people as especially affected. In the party's view, Bürgergeld is to replace "Hartz IV"; it wants to accompany its introduction constructively. Bremen's own programs are to close financial gaps in social and cultural participation. Where work does not pay enough to live on, access to support should be simple and as free of discrimination as possible. The gap between rich and poor is to shrink.

The Greens want to fund advice and support services for people affected by poverty and make them easier to access. Debt counseling is to accompany people until their personal bankruptcy proceedings are finished. Food banks (Tafeln) are to get relief on their operating costs.

The Greens want better advice for poor people. People with debts should get help for a long time. The help should last until their bankruptcy case ends. People should find the right advice office faster. The cities should pay some costs of the food banks.

Funding is to go to unemployment and social counseling, debt and insolvency counseling, and the consumer advice center; access is to remain cheap and low-threshold. Because the platform sees the advice landscape as confusing, so-called revolving-door effects are to be reviewed. The cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven are to cover energy and waste disposal costs of the food bank distribution points. A statewide campaign is meant to recruit more volunteers for the food banks.

The Greens want to give intensive support to the long-term unemployed, including through a publicly subsidized labor market. Bremen's labor market programs are to be continued, stepped up and extended. At the federal level, the party wants the Teilhabechancengesetz (Participation Opportunities Act) to apply permanently.

The Greens want to help people who have been out of work for a long time. The state should also pay for jobs for them. Bremen's programs should run longer. There should be better preparation courses. A federal support law should have no end date.

The programs for the long-term unemployed and single parents are to continue with EU and federal money and be better tailored to participants, for example through flexible hours, on-the-job support and quickly available childcare. Better preparatory courses are meant to help migrants, people returning to work and people with low qualifications get started. The party calls for a "double removal of time limits" on the Teilhabechancengesetz so that support can last beyond five years. Further training leading to a recognized vocational qualification is to be funded in a more targeted way.

The Greens want to involve workers in the shift to a climate-neutral economy and support them with training and advice. So-called transformation guides are meant to improve training for the changing world of work. In the party's view, investment in climate protection creates new jobs.

The economy should become climate-neutral. That means it should no longer harm the climate. The Greens want workers to have a say in this. Workers should get advice and training. Special guides should help with that.

The focus is on worker participation, training, advice, new job profiles and easier transitions, developed together with employees and companies. As examples of new jobs, the platform names public transit expansion, building renovation and the technology park. Projects for digital training in small and medium-sized companies are to continue. The party also wants to support training for works councils on digital transformation.

The Greens want stricter checks on whether companies comply with collective agreements when they receive public contracts. Violations could lead as far as exclusion from public procurement. In addition, migrant workers and platform economy workers are to be better protected.

Companies with government contracts should pay union-agreed wages. The Greens want stricter checks on this. Companies that break the rules should get no more contracts. Workers from other countries should get better protection. This also applies to work through internet platforms.

The basis is Bremen's law on collective wage compliance and public procurement, which the party says secures fair working conditions. In the future, checks are to increase and sanctions are to go as far as exclusion from contracts. Better monitoring and support structures are planned for migrant employees. Workers' rights in the digital platform economy are to be strengthened. Bremen's own minimum wage is meant to guarantee fair pay.

The Greens want to keep promoting remote work and expand the structures that support it. To do so, they call for reforming the Occupational Safety Act and the Working Hours Act so that flexible work is legally secure while employees remain protected.

Many people have worked from home since the pandemic. The Greens want to keep this possible. Two laws should be changed for this. Workers should stay well protected.

The platform notes that many employees have wanted to work flexibly since the pandemic. Binding rules are to cover workplace equipment, the organization of working hours, and how employee representatives are organized and can be reached. Remote work should be offered wherever it is feasible, on a voluntary basis and with little red tape. The risk of work spilling over into private time is to be examined and, where needed, countered with specific measures.

The Greens want better protection for people working through digital labor platforms and back the EU's planned rules to that end. They also want to fight exploitative working conditions, improve occupational safety and check that minimum wages are paid.

Some people work through apps and online platforms. Pay and conditions there are often poor. The Greens want to protect these people better. They also want to check that firms pay the minimum wage. Immigrants should know their rights.

The platform describes platform work as a flexible source of income but sees a strong imbalance of power caused by opaque terms, low pay and time pressure. The Greens therefore support regulation by EU lawmakers so that those affected get the full rights of employees. In Bremen, advice, support and inspection structures are to be strengthened, especially to inform workers from the EU and from non-EU countries. Particular attention is to go to migrant women working in live-in, round-the-clock home care.

At the federal level, the Greens are pushing for "flexible full-time," letting employees choose working hours between 30 and 40 per week. In the long run, the 30-hour week is to count as the new full-time.

The Greens want more flexible working hours. Workers should be able to choose between 30 and 40 hours a week. That way work fits better with family and free time. Later, 30 hours should count as a full job.

The reason given is that family, friends, volunteering and hobbies should be compatible with a job. Employees should be able to cut their weekly hours by up to ten and raise them again later, depending on their life situation. In addition, vocational training and continuing education are to be available part-time more often.

The Greens want to draw more young people into dual vocational training. Dorms for trainees, a discounted public transit ticket for trainees and more flexible training conditions are meant to help. Career guidance is to be stepped up at all general schools.

The Greens want more young people to do job training. Trainees should get their own dorms. They should get a cheap ticket for buses and trams. Schools should give better information about jobs. Part-time training should also be possible.

Trainee dorms would be built in Bremen and Bremerhaven, and the ticket would be modeled on the student semester ticket. In talks with the chambers and companies, the Greens want to push for a four-day week in training, more vacation for minors, vocational school breaks that are truly free, school days with no shift at the company afterward, and stays abroad. Every training program should be paid from the start, and part-time training is meant to let young parents, among others, earn a qualification. For career guidance, the platform wants to examine sending vocational school teachers into general schools and to let students visit vocational school workshops. Companies' own responsibility for training is to remain central.

The Greens want to make it easier to recognize vocational qualifications earned abroad and to better connect immigrants with language courses, further training and jobs. The Bremer Weiterbildungsscheck (training voucher) would be increased so that recognition does not fail for lack of money.

Many immigrants learned a trade in another country. The Greens want Bremen to accept these qualifications more easily. There should be more counseling and more money for training. Companies should also get help when they employ immigrants.

The maximum amount of the training voucher would rise, and it would also cover travel and living costs. The state agency for vocational training would strategically connect foreign workers with further qualification, language courses and funding; help with the job search would go beyond a first consultation. Companies whose employees have a migration or refugee background would receive outreach support, and centralized counseling is being examined together with the chambers. The language and integration mediators, known in Bremen as „Sprinter“, would be secured permanently and also be used by companies. The platform points to the shortage of skilled workers in companies.

The Greens want to make vocational training more inclusive so that more people with disabilities complete a qualification. Their pay should be enough to live on, and moving from sheltered workshops to the regular labor market should become easier.

The Greens want more people with disabilities to finish job training. The training should fit them better. Their pay should be enough to live on. Moving from a sheltered workshop to a regular company should become easier.

The plan has three parts. Training programs would be designed so that people with disabilities complete them more often. Pay should be sufficient to live on. Transitions from workshops for people with disabilities to the general labor market would be made simpler.

The Greens see a major need to reform church labor law, especially regarding the right to strike and rules on employees' private lives. They want to negotiate with church-run social institutions and unions so that these employers stop applying the special rules. State action is also to remove barriers that exist because of religious affiliation.

Special rules apply to people who work for church-run employers. For example, they often may not strike. The Greens want to change this. They want to talk with the institutions and the unions. The employers should give up the special rules voluntarily.

The platform considers the special rules no longer fitting given the growing diversity of religions, beliefs and ways of life. It says changes are needed on basic workers' rights such as the right to strike and on duties concerning conduct outside of work. The dialogue is to be held with charitable and social institutions run by churches in the state of Bremen and with the unions. Under the heading of separating religion and state, the party also names pastoral care in hospitals, housing for older people, a more diverse range of daycare providers, and alternative dates for university exams on religious holidays.

The Greens want to update the action plan on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and cover all areas of life. Education, university study and vocational training are to become more inclusive, and medical care for people with disabilities is to be better resourced.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The Greens want to continue Bremen's action plan for this. Daycare centers, schools and universities should be open to all. Job training should happen more often in regular companies. Hospitals should prepare better for these patients.

The plan is to cover housing, mobility, education and work; in transport projects such as the stops at Domsheide, accessibility counts as an important criterion. Students with visual or hearing impairments are to have technical aids, sign language interpreting and study assistance. Vocational training is to take place more in companies and vocational schools under the dual system rather than in special training centers, along with more training programs with reduced theory. The medical center for people with severe intellectual and multiple disabilities (MZEB) is to be adequately resourced and get a steering body. All hospitals are to draw up guidelines for dealing with patients with disabilities.

The Greens want to reshape workshops for people with disabilities so that they open the way into regular employment. The platform argues that many people with disabilities currently have no option other than the workshop.

Many people with disabilities cannot find a regular job. They work in a special workshop instead. The Greens want to change these workshops. The workshops should help people move into regular companies.

The Werkstatt Bremen/Martinshof is to offer not only traditional workshop jobs but also the Budget für Arbeit (a wage subsidy for regular jobs) and inclusion companies. In the next term, some external workplaces are to be moved into the Budget für Arbeit, and suitable parts of the workshop are to become inclusion businesses. Access to the budget for work and training is to be made easier, and the Federal Employment Agency's support tools are to be used more. People who prefer to stay in the workshop should have good work there and a chance to move on later.

The Greens want to campaign at the federal level for a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance). The platform argues that young people in Bremen are often poor and that this reduces their chances in life.

Many young people in Bremen are poor. This hurts their chances in life. So the Greens want a basic child allowance. That is a cash benefit for children. They want to push for it at the national level.

The party sees fighting poverty among parents as help for young people too. It lists an effective basic child allowance among its most important projects. It also considers it essential that every young person finishes school and can then start vocational training or university.

The Greens want to guarantee student assistants contracts of at least two years by law. They also back a collective agreement for student employees and want more internships in public administration to be paid.

Many students work at their university. Their contracts are often very short. The Greens want contracts of at least two years. This should be written into law. There should also be a collective agreement. That is one fixed deal on pay and work for everyone.

In the Greens' view, students must not be exploited as cheap labor. The two-year minimum term is to be written into the state higher education act and end chains of short contracts; employees should decide for themselves when to leave. In the states' collective bargaining round, the Greens support the TVStud campaign for a collective agreement. Pay for internships in public administration is to be expanded significantly.

The Greens want academic staff who handle permanent tasks to get permanent positions, with open-ended contracts becoming the norm. In the Bundesrat they want to work toward a reform of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (the federal law on fixed-term academic contracts), because in their view chains of short contracts create insecurity rather than innovation.

Many researchers only have short contracts. The Greens want to change that. People with long-term tasks should get a permanent job. A federal law allows many short contracts today. The Greens want that law changed.

This is also meant to apply to lecturers and to staff who bring in third-party funding. Research staff should generally get full-time positions. In qualification posts such as doctorates, at least half of working time should actually remain for the qualification, and the contract length should match its average duration. New and more family-friendly career paths are planned for mid-level academic staff. The Greens want more permanent staff for program administration and teaching.

The Greens want to attract more people to skilled trades needed for climate protection. They plan a training campaign, more continuing education, a transition company for workers affected by the shift, and a state-level training grant for low-skilled workers.

Bremen needs many skilled trade workers for climate protection. The Greens want more people to choose these jobs. Schools should give better information about job training. People who must learn a new job should get help and money.

Schools are to inform students about dual vocational training through more flexible internships, parent evenings and closer cooperation with companies. Women are to be addressed specifically, including by breaking down gender stereotypes and offering more flexible working hours. A possible institute for climate trades in Bremerhaven will be examined, and a climate skilled-worker alliance is to coordinate further training. Companies are to get help releasing employees for training with continued pay. Following a proposal by the state's climate inquiry commission, a transition company would retrain workers whose jobs are less in demand. A state-level BAföG (training grant) would fund low-skilled workers on their way to becoming skilled workers in climate-related fields.