Grüne on work and social affairs

The Greens consider full employment an achievable goal because climate action and innovation create new jobs. People who lose their jobs through economic change are to get new prospects. State programs are to support businesses and fund further training.

The Greens want everyone to have work. Climate action should bring many new jobs. But some jobs will go away. These people should get new chances. The state should help pay for training.

The platform sees climate action, the energy and transportation transition, and digitalization as fields for new products and services. Together with business, workers whose jobs disappear are to be given new options. State programs are to support companies and provide targeted training for employees. According to the platform, this is how growth and resource use can be decoupled in a socially fair way.

The Greens want to tackle the shortage of skilled and other workers through training and immigration. A central "welcome center" is to handle recognition of qualifications, residence issues and integration for foreign workers in one place.

Hesse does not have enough workers. The Greens want to offer more job training. They also want to attract workers from other countries. One central office should help these people quickly.

The plan of the existing state alliance for securing skilled workers is to become a formal pact. State-funded further training and retraining are to be adapted continuously to economic change. Together with chambers and associations, more training for energy transition jobs is to be offered. The welcome center would recognize qualifications, settle residence questions and organize integration measures. The platform cites demographic change and a lack of tradespeople for climate protection as reasons.

The Greens want to develop Hesse's public procurement and collective wage compliance law so that public contracts go to firms that follow the rules and more workers are covered by collective agreements. Social and environmental criteria are to carry more weight in procurement.

The state gives contracts to companies. The Greens want these companies to pay fairly. Social and environmental rules should count too. Work should also become healthier.

Training and advice are to help municipalities apply social, environmental, innovative and gender-equity requirements more easily. Tenders are to be split by trade where possible so that small local businesses can bid. The Greens want to examine whether procurement rules can better support start-ups. Health management in state-owned enterprises is to be strengthened, and an initiative for healthy companies is planned. The Greens support company trials of a four-day week.

The Greens want to develop the existing reduced-fare ticket "Hessenpass mobil" into a social pass for Hesse. It is to make social and cultural participation easier.

People with little money can ride buses and trains for less in Hesse. This is the Hessenpass mobil. The Greens want to turn it into a social pass. It should also make culture and leisure cheaper.

The platform points to the Hessenticket and the Hessenpass mobil as existing offers. The new social pass is to be created in the coming legislative term. The Greens link this to the aim that climate measures should also create social and economic opportunities. The transition is to be accompanied by transparent information.

The Greens want to raise Hesse's social budget by half to at least 200 million euros a year. The money is meant to fund social projects permanently, adjust grants to higher costs, and create new services.

Hesse pays for social projects. These include women's shelters and debt advice. The Greens want to raise this money a lot. It should be at least 200 million euros a year.

Proven projects are to move from temporary project grants to regular funding. Grants that have gone unchanged for years would be adjusted for inflation and higher wages. A needs study on social security is meant to target measures more precisely. Together with municipalities, associations, and providers, an overview of support services sorted by topic and region is to be compiled. At the federal level, the Greens advocate basic income support that prevents poverty and universal social insurance.

The Greens want to draw up an action plan against poverty and expand the state social report to cover wealth and concrete measures. Homelessness is to be decriminalized and tackled with Housing First, meaning a home of one's own as the first step of support.

Many people in Hesse live in poverty. The Greens want a plan against it. People without a home should get a home first. This is called Housing First. Homeless people should not be punished.

The state social report is to become a report on poverty, wealth, and action, serving as the basis for the action plan. One focus is child poverty, so that poverty is not passed on to the next generation. To address poverty among women, the program relies on labor market incentives for incomes people can live on. Besides Housing First, “Probewohnen” (trial tenancies) is planned. Job center services would be linked more closely with support networks, and a street outreach campaign is meant to reach people in need.

The Greens want to press the federal government for a scientifically monitored pilot project on unconditional basic income. It would study the effects on job searches, civic engagement, and participation in society.

A basic income is money from the state for everyone, with no conditions. The Greens want this tested in a trial. Researchers should study the effects. The federal government should run the trial.

The demand is directed at the federal level. The pilot project would scientifically examine how an income without conditions affects people. As examples, the program names job search prospects, involvement in civil society, and participation in society.

The Greens want public infrastructure to better reflect the needs of older people. The aim is for people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

There are more and more older people. The Greens want them to live at home for a long time. There should be help at home. Doctors and stores should be nearby.

The plan includes barrier-free access and nearby medical care, nursing care, services and shopping. Meeting places and suitable transportation options are meant to allow an active life in old age. Cities and towns would get help joining the global network of age-friendly cities. Civic and political engagement by older people is to be supported.

The Greens want people with disabilities to live independently and without barriers and to be involved in decisions from the start. Accessibility is to be checked more effectively and the path into the regular labor market made easier.

The Greens want fewer obstacles for people with disabilities. Buildings and streets should be usable for everyone. People with disabilities should be able to find regular jobs. They should have a say in decisions.

Public spaces are to become more accessible. The party favors person-centered assistance, wants to create alternatives to sheltered workshops, continue the HEPAS program and fund regional "Pro-Arbeit" networks for people with disabilities. The state action plan on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to be updated and the accessibility competence center expanded. Facilities are to have protection plans against violence, and sign language interpreters are to be available for urgent counseling. Memorial work in Hadamar on the Nazi euthanasia murders is to be supported.

The Greens want to write the Code for Good Work into the Higher Education Act and push back chains of fixed-term contracts. First contracts for doctoral candidates are to run four years instead of three, and student assistants are to be covered by the state's collective wage agreement.

The Greens want better jobs at universities. Doctoral candidates should get first contracts of 4 years. Today it is 3 years. There should be fewer short contracts in a row. Student assistants should be paid under the wage agreement.

A commission is to develop the code further; permanent tasks are to come with permanent posts. In the long run, doctoral candidates are to be able to spend at least half their working time on their own dissertation. More money for permanent post-doctoral positions is to flow through the Hochschulpakt. The state's research funding is to comply with the code. Representation of doctoral candidates is to be strengthened, and science management is to be expanded as a career path.

The Greens want to keep adjusting civil-servant pay to court rulings and carry collective bargaining results over to civil servants. They want to reduce the disadvantage for civil servants voluntarily insured in the public health system and will examine a flat-rate subsidy for this. Staff councils are to get more say.

Civil servants work for the state. The Greens want them to be paid fairly. Pay raises from union agreements should also apply to civil servants. Civil servants in public health insurance should no longer be worse off. Staff councils should have more say.

After initial steps on pay adjustment, the remaining necessary ones are to follow. The Greens will examine a flat-rate Beihilfe (health-cost allowance) in which the employer pays a subsidy toward the premiums of those fully insured in either the public or the private system. Staff councils' participation rights are to grow in health protection, digitalization and new forms of work. The Greens want to persuade the other states' bargaining association to adopt the advantages of Hesse's collective agreement.

The Greens want to make it easier for skilled workers from the EU to enter Hesse's labor market and to simplify recognition of their vocational qualifications. Posted workers are to receive more counseling to defend themselves against poor working conditions.

Skilled workers from other EU countries should find it easier to work in Hesse. Their job qualifications should be accepted more easily. Some companies send workers from abroad to Hesse. These people should get more advice. This should protect them from being exploited.

Counseling for posted workers is to be strengthened above all in logistics, construction, agriculture and so-called 24-hour care. The platform ties this to the aim of making European integration socially fair as well. The Greens also want to work more closely with the European and international institutions based in Hesse and to campaign for more of them to locate there.