Grüne on work and social affairs

The Greens want everyday life to stay affordable. To that end, electricity is to become cheaper and mobility affordable.

The Greens want daily life to be affordable. Electricity should get cheaper. Buses, trains and travel should be affordable. Rents should stay affordable too.

The platform argues that higher prices mean many people's wages are used up by rent, heating and basic needs. The Greens see it as their task to make sure everyone can take part in society. The platform also names a fair tax system and a good health care system as further preconditions.

The Greens want to ease the shortage of workers and skilled staff by enabling more people in Germany to work. Vocational training and continuing education would be strengthened, older people would get incentives to work longer, and people with disabilities would find work more easily.

Germany lacks many workers. The Greens want to make job training more attractive. People who want to learn new job skills would get help. Older people would get benefits if they work longer. People with disabilities would find work more easily.

The platform points to 2.9 million young people without a vocational qualification while many training places stay empty. Vocational training would become more attractive, the Qualifizierungsgeld (training allowance) would be developed further, and self-chosen continuing education would come with social protection. Older employees and retirees who want to keep working would get advantages on social insurance contributions. For people with disabilities, bureaucratic hurdles and prejudices would be reduced. The Greens also aim for stable social contributions to limit non-wage labor costs, and for European minimum standards for social security systems.

The Greens want to raise the statutory minimum wage to an initial 15 euros in 2025 and increase it step by step after that. It would also apply to minors. The platform justifies this with the inflation of recent years.

The Greens want a higher minimum wage. It should first be 15 euros per hour. After that it should keep rising. It should also apply to workers under 18.

The minimum wage would start at 15 euros in 2025 and then rise in steps. Workers under 18 would also receive it. To that end, the Minimum Wage Act would get a benchmark: 60 percent of the median wage, as named in the EU minimum wage directive. The platform says the increase offsets recent price rises and recognizes people's work.

The Greens want more employees to be paid under collective agreements, which the platform says brings higher pay and better working conditions. It should become easier to declare agreements binding for whole sectors, and larger federal contracts should go only to companies that pay collectively agreed wages.

The Greens want more collective agreements. A collective agreement sets pay and working conditions for many workers. The federal government should give big contracts only to firms that pay these wages. Pay in East and West Germany should also become equal.

It should become easier to declare collective agreements generally binding, so that they also cover companies in a sector that have not signed them. A Tariftreuegesetz (wage-compliance law) would tie larger federal contracts to collectively agreed pay; the platform says this covers well over 90 percent of federal contract volume. The Greens also want to examine how social criteria can be attached to large subsidies with little red tape. In the long run, pay gaps between East and West are to disappear.

The Greens want to give works councils and other employee representatives more rights. In the platform's view, co-determination builds trust and acceptance, especially when companies are undergoing change.

The Greens want workers to have more say at work. Works councils should help decide on more topics. New works councils should be easier to set up. Elections should also be possible online.

Co-determination rights would be extended to gender equality, training, staff development, and environmental and climate protection. Works councils could be elected online and decide for themselves whether to work digitally or in person. Unions would get a digital right of access to workplaces. Obstructing co-determination would in future be prosecuted by the authorities on their own initiative. The platform also plans rules on employee data protection and stronger board-level co-determination that cannot be circumvented, including across borders.

The Greens want to crack down on bogus self-employment, abuse of contracts for work, and undeclared work. They reject fixed-term contracts without objective grounds and longer working hours, and want time recording regulated by law.

The Greens want to protect workers better. They oppose undeclared work and fake self-employment. Contracts should not be limited in time without a reason. Working hours should not get longer. Companies should record working hours digitally.

The platform cites platform companies as an example of bogus self-employment. Unions would get the right to bring collective lawsuits, and legal advice for posted workers would be secured. Time recording would be anchored in the Working Hours Act, work digitally with little effort, and be tamper-proof in sectors with a lot of undeclared work. Protection against workplace bullying would be improved. Occupational health and safety would be expanded, especially regarding mental health.

The Greens want to reform the special labor law that applies to churches. Exemptions for churches in two laws would be removed, and unions would have more say in church-run workplaces.

Special rules apply today to churches as employers. The Greens want to change these rules. Exceptions for churches in two laws should end. Unions should have more say. Nothing changes for preaching and pastoral work.

The exemptions for churches would be deleted from the Works Constitution Act, which governs co-determination, and from the General Equal Treatment Act, which protects against discrimination. Union co-determination in church institutions would be promoted. The area of religious ministry remains exempt.

The Greens want to gradually replace mini-jobs with employment covered by social insurance. In the platform's view, mini-jobs act as a part-time trap, especially for women, and worsen old-age poverty and labor shortages.

The Greens want to change mini-jobs step by step. Mini-jobs should become jobs with social insurance. Then people are better protected. Some groups can keep mini-jobs.

The conversion would happen in stages. Exceptions apply to students, school pupils and pensioners. The platform argues that mini-jobs, combined with Ehegattensplitting (joint tax filing for married couples), create an incentive to work few hours without social protection.

The Greens want to keep Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and adjust it regularly so that it covers the minimum needed to live and take part in society. Training and support should keep priority over quick job placement.

The Greens want to keep Bürgergeld. This is basic income support. The amount should be adjusted regularly. It should always be enough to live and take part in society. Job centers should help people with training and counseling.

The standard rate must not fall below the subsistence minimum. In the longer run, benefits would be calculated per individual. Coaching, work opportunities and subsidized jobs in the social labor market would be developed further. One focus is the health of unemployed people, especially psychosocial support. The platform also calls for an adequate minimum wage and less precarious employment.

The Greens want welfare benefits to be simpler, more standardized and paid out automatically where possible. At the same time, extra work should pay off more for benefit recipients, and self-employed people should get easier access to unemployment insurance.

The Greens want to make the welfare system simpler. People should have to fill out fewer forms. Those who work more should end up with more money. Self-employed people should find it easier to insure against job loss.

Benefits should be flat-rate where possible and individual only where needed. Payments that can be made directly under clear rules should no longer require a complicated application. A broad participatory process is planned for this reform. People who need support despite working should gain more from adding hours. Together with employers and chambers, the party wants measures that bring people back toward the labor market.

The Greens want to write accessibility into law for all areas of life and make it easier to enforce. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities serves as the benchmark. A parliamentary study commission on inclusion is to draw up comprehensive proposals.

The Greens want accessibility everywhere. That means everyone can use things without barriers. Federal buildings should be barrier-free within ten years. Shops and services should also take care of this. A commission should make proposals.

Federal buildings would become accessible within ten years. Providers of publicly available services would have to take accessibility measures; a hardship clause and a digital tool are meant to ease the burden. Tenants of office and commercial space would find it legally easier to remodel, and KfW funding programs would be expanded. Self-advocates would take part in the study commission. Bureaucratic hurdles and technical standards would be reviewed, and inclusion considered in every legislative process.

The Greens want to gradually convert sheltered workshops for people with disabilities into inclusive companies. There, people with and without disabilities would work together and earn at least the minimum wage. The goal is for people with disabilities to earn their living in the regular labor market.

Many people with disabilities work in special workshops. The Greens want to change these workshops step by step. Everyone should work together there. Everyone should get at least the minimum wage. Companies should hire more people with disabilities.

Workers would earn pension entitlements sufficient to live on and receive individual support. The reform is to be developed in dialogue with the workshops and those affected. Loopholes in employers' hiring obligation would be closed and the compensatory levy adjusted. Pilot projects going beyond legal requirements are planned in the federal administration. EU money should not flow into forms of work that conflict with Article 27 of the UN disability rights convention. The reduced earning capacity pension would become more flexible.

The Greens want to make Eingliederungshilfe (integration assistance for people with disabilities) simpler and faster to access. People should decide for themselves where and how they live. Support should not depend on income or assets.

People with disabilities get help from the state. The Greens want to make this help simpler. Applications should be fast and digital. The help should not depend on a person's own money. Everyone should decide for themselves where to live.

Claims to participation would be enforced faster by agencies and courts. The federal government, states and municipalities are to secure funding for integration assistance together. Inclusive housing, the personal budget and peer counseling through the EUTB would be strengthened. German Sign Language would be recognized as a national minority language, and a competence center for accessible communication is planned. Education would be inclusive from the start, with the needed support paid for. Protection against violence in services for people with disabilities would be expanded significantly.