Grüne on work and social affairs

The Greens want to improve working conditions at universities. Permanent tasks are to be done by staff on permanent contracts, and student employees are to be paid under a collective agreement. The party backs the union campaign TVStud for this purpose.

Many people at universities only have short-term contracts. The Greens want permanent jobs for tasks that never end. Students who work at a university should get collective pay. Collective pay is pay that unions and employers agree on.

Universities are to be strengthened in their role as employers. Together with staff councils and university bodies, the Greens want to create further training with chances for promotion for mid-level academic staff and for technical and administrative staff. Where the principle of permanent posts for permanent tasks is not yet applied well enough, this is to change. There are also to be alternatives to fixed-term contracts so that employees can plan their lives for the long term.

The Greens want a law on collective bargaining compliance and public procurement with a procurement minimum wage of at least 13.50 euros. The state minimum wage is to be reintroduced and also set at 13.50 euros. Precarious working conditions are to be monitored more closely.

Companies with state contracts will have to pay at least 13.50 euros an hour. The state will again have its own minimum wage of 13.50 euros. Companies should follow collective agreements. These are pay deals between unions and employers. Bad working conditions will be checked more closely.

Companies that undercut collective agreements, and their associations, are not to benefit in tenders or negotiations. People working for the state are no longer to be employed through third-party providers. An annual state report is to describe working conditions and propose initiatives against abuses. The platform names the meat industry, seasonal work and migrant women in 24-hour home care; advice services and inspections on workplace safety and minimum wages are to be strengthened. The gender pay gap in the state is also to be disclosed and reduced.

The Greens want to expand occupational safety by strengthening inspections and counseling, for example on the ban on subcontracted labor in meatpacking and on the minimum wage. A housing oversight law is meant to secure minimum standards for workers' accommodation.

The Greens want to protect workers better. Officials should check more often, for example in slaughterhouses. Everyone should get the minimum wage. A new law should make sure workers have decent housing.

Inspections are to cover the ban on subcontracting in slaughterhouses, in force since 2021, and the payment of minimum wages. To this end, the Staatliche Unfallkasse Nord (state accident insurance agency) is to get more staff. A housing oversight law is to guarantee a minimum living area per person and the upkeep of accommodation. Counseling centers for foreign workers are to get access to all businesses and households that employ foreign staff. Workers from the EU and from non-EU countries are to be informed about their rights and be able to attend language courses.

The Greens regard sexual services as work and want to reduce the stigma attached to them. At the same time, people who work under coercion are to receive protection and individual support.

The Greens see sex work as work. Nobody should be treated badly because of it. People who are forced into this work should get help and protection.

Public agencies and police are to receive better training. Social work, especially outreach counseling, is to be expanded, and counseling and drop-in centers are to get secure funding. At the federal level, the Greens want a reform of the Prostituiertenschutzgesetz (Prostitute Protection Act) so that it focuses on support in the future.

The Greens want to keep promoting working from home, co-working, and mobile work while preserving worker protections. To that end, the occupational safety and working hours laws are to be reformed. The platform sees opportunities for rural areas and the climate.

The Greens want to support working from home. This saves travel and helps rural areas and the climate. The laws that protect workers should be updated for this.

The structures for flexible forms of work are to be expanded. Workplace equipment, working hours, and access to employee representatives are to be regulated in a binding way. Mobile work must not restrict the work of works councils. According to the platform, shorter or avoided commutes benefit the climate and give employees more time.

The Greens want to expand continuing education so that employees can adapt to digitalization and the economy's shift toward climate neutrality. They support the federal government's plan for Bildungszeit and Bildungsteilzeit (paid full-time and part-time training leave).

The world of work is changing fast. So the Greens want more training courses for workers. People should be able to take time off to learn. This should be possible in all jobs.

Career breaks and educational leave should actually be usable in all industries and occupations, which according to the platform requires acceptance by employers. Continuing education is to be gender-equitable in structure and content. Offerings for employees and for works and staff councils are to grow, and transfer and qualification companies are to be strengthened. In addition, counseling services run by independent providers are to be set up, such as psychosocial counseling centers.

The Greens want people working in sheltered workshops for people with disabilities to receive the minimum wage and employee status. In the long run, alternatives to the workshop system are to be developed with the federal government. The goal is a labor market open to everyone, as the UN disability rights convention provides.

Some people with disabilities work in special workshops. They do not get the minimum wage there. The Greens want to change that. More people with disabilities should be able to work in regular companies.

Companies are no longer to be able to reduce their compensatory levy by placing orders with workshops. The state is to be a role model as an employer, and day support centers are also to be part of the change. In pilot regions, neutral contact persons from the integration service are to promote and support the Budget für Arbeit (a wage subsidy for regular jobs). In addition to the eight existing youth employment agencies, more are to be set up to support the move from school to work close to home. Integration services are to be strengthened so that unemployed people with disabilities can return to work more easily.

The Greens want to raise the Landesblindengeld (state allowance for blind people) to offset higher extra costs. At the federal level they back an allowance for people with severe visual impairment and, through the Bundesrat, a federal participation benefit. These payments are meant to offset financial disadvantages faced by people with disabilities.

Blind people get money from the state. The Greens want to raise this amount. People with very poor eyesight should also get money. There should also be a new federal benefit for people with disabilities.

The allowance for visually impaired people is intended as compensation for those with severe visual impairment. The federal participation benefit is to cover the considerable extra costs people with disabilities face, for example as a subsidy for sign language interpreters or assistive devices. Because of changes to the federal participation law, the state is to develop its guardianship system further and revise its law on strengthening self-determination. Advice on claiming benefits is to become less bureaucratic and more competent.

The Greens want no one in Schleswig-Holstein to have to live in poverty. To that end the party backs the federal Bürgergeld (citizen's income), wants to replace Hartz IV, and advocates higher taxes on the very rich. The state is also to provide good jobs and career prospects.

The Greens want no one in the state to be poor. The Bürgergeld should replace Hartz IV. Very rich people should pay more taxes. The state should create good jobs. State contracts should go to companies in the region.

The state is to offer more jobs in its civil service and advertise them in a targeted way. The party wants to award public contracts regionally under the Community Wealth Building approach, partly to create work in rural areas. It wants to raise income and pension gaps caused by unpaid care work at the federal level. Together with welfare associations, unions, business groups and job centers, a detailed report on conditions in the state is to be produced. Labor market programs are to be supplemented with individual counseling and support.

The Greens want to expand debt and insolvency counseling and set up statewide advice on electricity costs. The goal is to avoid power cutoffs and protect people from energy poverty. At the federal level the party advocates abolishing power cutoffs altogether.

The Greens want more counseling for people in debt. There should be advice on electricity costs everywhere in the state. No one should have their power shut off. That should be banned across Germany.

The electricity cost counseling is to be set up jointly with municipal utilities, consumer advice centers and debt counseling services. It is to be available across the whole state. Abolishing power cutoffs is a federal matter, and the party intends to press for it there.

The Greens are guided by the idea of a basic income and want a nationwide pilot with scientific evaluation. The stated reason is to narrow the gap between rich and poor. In addition, decentralized, mobile and digital services are meant to enable more participation in society.

A basic income is money from the government for everyone. The Greens like this idea. They want a trial across all of Germany. Researchers should follow the trial. The gap between rich and poor should get smaller.

The party points to its national platform of principles, which sets out basic income as a guiding idea. It sees introduction as a federal responsibility. According to the platform, growing injustice threatens many people's free personal development and social peace. To increase participation in this largely rural state, the party relies on local services as well as mobile and digital formats.

The Greens want the state to point people to benefits on its own initiative rather than wait for applications. Parents applying online for a birth certificate are to be informed automatically about available support. The same principle is to apply to other life situations, such as dealings with the job center.

Today parents have to search for help themselves. The Greens want to change that. The government should tell people about help on its own. This happens when parents apply online for a birth certificate. The language should be easy to understand.

According to the platform, parents are currently left on their own when working out which benefits they can claim. People applying for benefits at the job center are to receive digital notices about further support. Examples given are the education and participation package for children, aids such as the Kiel-Karte (a local discount card), and children's entitlement to a computer paid for by the job center.

The Greens want to give volunteers more support and pursue an overall strategy for volunteering. Voluntary service programs such as the FSJ, FÖJ, and Bundesfreiwilligendienst (federal volunteer service) should be open to more people regardless of income.

Many people help others for free. The Greens want to support these people more. One example is cheaper bus and train tickets. Young people with little money should also be able to do a voluntary year.

For volunteers, the platform mentions public transit discounts, time-limited parking options, and stronger support for places that host civic engagement. Volunteer work with refugees is to get specific attention in the strategy. Volunteering should be better recognized at work and fit alongside school, university, training, and jobs. For voluntary service, the Greens plan better networking of host organizations, affordable transit, and training. At the federal level, they want help with rent and food and an exemption from the broadcasting fee for volunteers who no longer live with their families.

The Greens consider church labor law largely outdated and want standard labor law to apply to church employees. They also want to make it easier to leave a religious community.

Churches have their own rules for their workers. The Greens want to change that. Church workers should have the same rules as everyone else. Leaving a church should also become easier.

In the platform's view, the churches' special labor law no longer fits the times in many respects. Church employees should therefore fall under the same labor rules as other workers. For leaving a religious community, the Greens want to look into lowering or scrapping the fees charged for it.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for tougher action against undeclared work. Customs and tax authorities are to cooperate better, and general contractors are to be liable for wage tax evaded by their subcontractors.

The Greens want to do more against undeclared work. That is work without paying taxes and social contributions. Customs and tax offices should work together better. Big contractors should be liable for unpaid wage tax.

The platform cites harm to honest businesses, the labor market, social insurance systems and tax revenue, as well as weaker insurance coverage for workers. It names organized undeclared work through service firms issuing fake invoices as a particular problem. Customs and tax authorities are to be better linked through databases and platforms. The Greens call for a cross-state working group led by the federal finance ministry. A liability provision for commissioning general contractors is to be added to the tax code; lower cash payment limits are also meant to help.

The Greens want to make state employment more attractive through good pay, family-friendly conditions and flexible working hours. Civil servants are to choose their health insurance freely, and outsourced workers are to be brought back onto the state payroll step by step.

The Greens want the state to be a good employer. Civil servants should choose their own health insurance. Some people work for the state but are employed by companies. They should work directly for the state again. Cleaning staff come first.

The state would introduce the "pauschale Beihilfe" (flat-rate allowance), meaning it pays the employer share of statutory health insurance so civil servants can choose it instead of the traditional allowance system. A phased plan would bring outsourced workers back, starting with cleaning staff moving to the state building management agency GMSH. The party pledges to keep applying the states' collective bargaining results to civil servants. It justifies this with competition for new staff with business, federal agencies and neighboring states.