Linke on work and social affairs

The Left wants state-level programs to relieve households hit hardest by rising energy prices. These include a cheaper StadtTicket (discounted transit pass), its extension to Bremerhaven, and a social tariff for electricity.

Energy has become very expensive. The Left wants to help people with little money. The StadtTicket for buses and trams should cost less. It should also be valid in Bremerhaven. Poor households should pay less for electricity.

The platform lists a lower price for the StadtTicket, its extension to Bremerhaven, and a social electricity tariff as examples. Small businesses are to receive grants where needed to get through the crisis. At the federal level, the party also calls for permanently higher benefits, price caps on gas and energy, an energy allowance, and rent caps. Bremen should launch its own measures because, in the party's view, the federal government is doing too little.

The Left wants to address the shortage of teachers, childcare workers, and nurses with paid training that runs alongside practical work. At the same time, working conditions in these professions are to improve permanently.

There are too few teachers, childcare workers, and nurses. The Left wants to combine training and work. People train part-time and get paid for it. The jobs themselves should also become better.

In the party's view, the model of practice-integrated training has already proven itself. It is meant to break the cycle in which staff shortages make jobs unattractive and thereby deter new hires. The improvements named are collective agreements on workload relief, more control over one's working hours, more decision-making authority, and bonuses for special demands.

The Left wants job options for everyone, including people with few qualifications or no prospects in the regular labor market. To this end, there is to be a large sector of publicly funded work that pays a living wage, and collective agreements and the minimum wage are to be enforced more strictly.

Everyone should be able to find work. Some people cannot manage a regular job. The state should pay for jobs for them. People should be able to live on this work. The state should also check that companies pay fair wages.

Alongside training and further education, there should be enough jobs that require little formal qualification. In these areas, the party wants to secure collective bargaining coverage, the minimum wage, labor standards, and workers' rights and check compliance more closely. Subsidized employment is to offer meaningful work and not aim primarily at a quick move into regular jobs. The party also wants to continue the levy-financed training fund.

The Left calls for an immediate end to sanctions against benefit recipients and for substantially higher standard rates. In its view, even the new Bürgergeld (citizen's income) does not secure a minimum standard of living.

People on Bürgergeld should no longer fear cuts. These cuts are called sanctions. The Left wants to end them right away. The payments should also be much higher. They should rise with prices.

Standard rates are to rise substantially and always reflect price increases in full. The platform's stated goal is that no one has less than two-thirds of average income, weighted by household size. Meetings at welfare offices are to take place on equal footing and take into account medical certificates, doctors' letters, and personal circumstances such as childcare or caring for relatives. The party sees the federal government as chiefly responsible, but also the state and municipalities.

The Left calls for a price cap on food so that no one has to go hungry. Supermarkets and discounters are to be required to hand out still-edible goods close to their expiry date to people in need free of charge.

Food should not become too expensive. The Left wants an upper limit on prices. Supermarkets should give away food shortly before the expiry date. Poor people should get it for free.

The price cap is meant to prevent hunger. The food is to be handed out in the mornings in separate rooms with refrigeration. The duty would apply to both supermarkets and discounters. The platform notes that food banks can no longer keep up with demand.

The Left wants to ban energy cut-offs because it regards electricity, gas, and water as basic social rights. For benefit recipients, housing and energy costs are to be covered adequately, with electricity paid through housing costs in the future.

No one should have their electricity, gas, or water cut off. The Left wants to ban this. People on benefits should get money for electricity and heating. There should also be help to buy energy-saving appliances. Advice centers should get more money.

Until a ban is in place, Bremen's hardship fund is to be used more and publicized through a multilingual campaign in local media and building hallways. A climate bonus is to raise the basis for housing cost coverage when a building has been energy-renovated. A package of measures is to let benefit recipients buy efficient refrigerators, washing machines, or balcony solar units. Social, debt, and tenant advice services are to be expanded, and the city is to keep paying tenant association membership for low earners beyond 2023.

The Left wants to fight poverty with a cross-departmental strategy and a dedicated commission of the state government. At the same time, the social divide between neighborhoods is to be reduced by giving disadvantaged areas the best facilities.

Many people in Bremen are poor. The Left wants a commission against poverty. People affected should have a say there. Poor neighborhoods should get the best schools and services. There should be affordable housing in all neighborhoods.

The commission is to receive expert and academic support. All policy decisions of the state are to be checked for their effect on poverty. Disadvantaged neighborhoods are to be best equipped in education, health, and social infrastructure. The goal is social diversity in every neighborhood, with affordable housing everywhere and education policy closely linked to urban development policy.

The Left wants to dissolve the subsidiary "Gesundheit Nord Dienstleistungen" (GND) and bring its employees back into the municipal hospital group GeNo. They are to be paid under the public-sector collective agreement. The party rejects further outsourcing.

Cleaners and kitchen staff work for a subsidiary of the hospitals. They earn less there. The Left wants to dissolve this company. The staff should work directly for the hospitals again. They should get collectively agreed pay.

According to the program, cleaning and catering staff were moved to GND in 2009, which worsened pay and working conditions. The party calls this practice wage dumping. In the future, the employees are to work under the public-sector agreement TVöD.

The Left wants more co-determination to accompany the social-ecological transition. Employees, companies, works councils, and policymakers are to shape change together, and the rights of workers and unions are to grow at the federal level.

The world of work is changing a lot. The Left wants workers to have a say in this. There should be talks within industries. Unions should get more rights. The Left will push for this at the federal level.

State policy is to support the process with industry dialogues and future forums. More rights are intended for new forms of work, digitalization, structural change, and training. The party wants no one left behind in the transition, job cuts prevented, and state help where low-skilled jobs disappear.

The Left wants to keep raising Bremen's state minimum wage until it secures a pension above the poverty line in old age. In the medium term it names at least €15 as the target.

Bremen has its own minimum wage. It applies, for example, to contracts from the state. The Left wants to raise it to at least 15 euros. Then the pension should later be enough to live on.

The state minimum wage has already been linked to the public-sector pay agreement for the states (TV-L), which the party calls a first step. The goal is a "pension-proof" wage, meaning one that yields an adequate pension after a working life. The increase is meant to continue the pay improvements begun with the amended state minimum wage law.

The Left wants to declare more collective agreements generally binding, for example in hospitality, and to achieve collective bargaining coverage in all public companies and their subsidiaries. A "Fair Working Conditions" unit is to monitor minimum wage and compliance with collective agreements.

Collective agreements set pay and working hours. The Left wants them to apply to more companies. All companies owned by the state should pay by these agreements. A new office should check whether companies follow the rules. Stricter conditions should apply to state contracts.

After the security industry, further sectors are to get generally binding collective agreements, and the federal government is to make such declarations easier. Under the public procurement law, additional criteria are to apply to public contracts, such as gender fairness and equal pay. Subsidiaries of public companies are to be covered by collective agreements and gradually reach the pay level of their parent companies. Employees of independent providers of social services are to be paid according to public-sector agreements, with works council costs also refinanced. Jobcenter staff are to receive equal pay regardless of employer.

The Left wants to push back temporary agency work and turn it into regular employment. At the federal level, it advocates largely abolishing agency work and converting mini-jobs into positions with full social insurance.

The Left wants secure jobs for everyone. Temp agency work should hardly exist anymore. Mini-jobs should become normal jobs with social insurance. That way people should not be poor in old age. The Left will push for this at the federal level.

Together with the unions, the party wants everyone to have a secure job and be able to live well on their income. It wants to fight what it sees as excessive use of agency work. It justifies converting mini-jobs by saying this is the only way to create jobs that prevent poverty in old age.

The Left wants to give employees financial security during continuing education. It plans a training allowance of €200 a month and a state living allowance that covers course costs and living expenses for low-skilled workers.

Further training costs time and money. The Left wants to pay 200 euros a month for it. People with little training should get even more help. The state then pays for the course and living costs. That way everyone should be able to learn more.

According to the program, continuing education has so far depended mainly on private means, which especially disadvantages women, queer people, and people with a migration background. The state agency for vocational training is to be made permanent and catch-up qualification expanded. The state living allowance is to apply for a limited time when low-skilled people want to reach skilled-worker level independently of their employer. Federal funding programs are to become more flexible, especially for those changing sectors. The party also seeks collective agreements securing part-time training and continuing education at full pay.

The Left wants to found a transition company that supports employees in changing occupation or sector. It is to advise, assist, and place them with other employers after retraining.

Some people will soon have to change jobs. The Left wants to set up a new organization for this. It advises and guides people. After retraining, it helps them find a new job. It should help early, not only when a company closes.

The party assumes that the economic transition will require moves between occupations and sectors and that the usual instruments are not enough. The body goes back to a proposal by Bremen's climate inquiry commission. Unlike a transfer company set up when a business closes, it is to work early and across companies.

The Left wants to create permanent publicly funded jobs in the neighborhoods and remove time limits from existing programs for the long-term unemployed. It also wants better rules on extra earnings and stronger independent counseling for the unemployed.

Some people cannot find work for a long time. The Left wants to create jobs for them that the state pays for. The jobs should be in the neighborhoods. People on benefits should be allowed to earn more on top. There should be a complaints office that is not part of the Jobcenter.

The subsidized jobs are to be mostly covered by social insurance and pay at least the state minimum wage. Labor market programs are to combine subsidized part-time work with training and training pay. At the federal level, the Senate is to push for better rules on additional earnings, especially so that young people's earnings are not counted against their household's benefits. Independent counseling centers are to be adequately funded, a report on the situation of the unemployed is to appear every two years, and a complaints office independent of the Jobcenter is to be set up.

The Left wants to test a four-day, 32-hour week as a pilot project in selected companies and have it scientifically evaluated. Flexible working time models and more childcare are meant to make work and private life easier to combine.

Many people want more time for family and free time. The Left wants to test a four-day week. That means 32 hours of work per week. Some companies will try it out. Researchers then check how well it works. There should also be more childcare.

The pilot is to be carried out together with employers and unions. Childcare is to be expanded according to need and also allow enrollment during the year. The "Ausgezeichnet familienfreundlich" (family-friendly employer) seal is to be developed further and financially secured. Labor law is to allow more flexibility while protecting against self-exploitation; remote work and platform work are to be regulated so that work does not spill over without limits.

The Left wants to push back insecure work and bogus self-employment among the solo self-employed. It supports sector-specific minimum fees and model contracts and wants to promote representation for platform workers.

Many people work alone as self-employed. Often they earn too little. The Left wants minimum fees for each sector. A fee is the payment for a job. Delivery riders should also get a group that speaks for them.

According to the program, many solo self-employed people do not earn enough for living costs, insurance, or retirement savings. Model contracts are to settle matters such as material costs, cancellation fees, and insurance. For gig workers who, for example, deliver food via digital platforms, representative bodies are to be supported. The party wants to examine whether public or self-organized placement platforms could replace private providers it describes as disreputable.

The Left wants secure, fair jobs covered by collective agreements in the port companies. Overtime should remain the exception, and negotiated wages should rise with the cost of living.

The Left wants safe jobs in the ports. Workers should be paid under union contracts. Overtime should not be normal. There should be enough staff for that.

The platform demands that skilled jobs in the port companies be preserved. Overtime should be avoided by hiring enough staff. Negotiated wages should be adjusted to the cost of living. The platform regards safety standards as a mark of quality for cargo-handling companies, and the party wants to back works councils in their efforts for worker safety.

The Left wants to upgrade occupations in which especially many women work, such as nursing care. In the party's view, better pay and more staff would reduce overload and involuntary part-time work.

In some jobs, most workers are women. Nursing care is one example. The Left wants higher pay and more staff there. The work should be less stressful.

The platform sees poor working conditions as a main reason why workers leave nursing care or work part-time against their wishes. It calls for staffing levels based on actual need and for appropriate wages. It names nursing care, cleaning services, social and childcare occupations, midwives, restaurants and retail.

In the longer term, the Left calls for a 30-hour week with wage compensation as the new standard employment relationship. Shorter hours are meant to distribute care work more fairly and, according to the platform, also help against skilled-labor shortages, burnout and unemployment.

The Left wants shorter working hours. Later, a work week should have only 30 hours. Pay should still be enough to live on. This leaves more time for family and care.

The platform wants to move away from the week of 40 or more hours. As an example, it cites the 35-hour week for nurses in the hospitals of the municipal group GeNo. According to the platform, a week of 30 to 35 hours would suit both full-time workers who want to work less and part-time workers who need more paid hours. At the same time, unpaid care work is to be valued more highly and shared more fairly between the genders.

The Left wants to move childcare workers into higher pay grades and improve their working conditions. According to the platform, more than 20 percent of new entrants nationwide leave the profession within the first five years.

Many childcare workers quit early. The work is very stressful. The Left wants to pay them more. They should also get time for preparation and more substitute staff.

The work is to be reassessed and thereby placed in a higher pay grade as a rule; there should be bonuses for special challenges, including in parent-run associations. For health protection, the platform names break rooms, noise protection and ergonomic furniture. Substitute pools should grow, and relief for older staff should not reduce pensions. Time for preparation, follow-up and parent meetings should become binding, and directors should get more hours.

The Left wants to develop the state action plan on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities together with those affected and have the state fund it fully. Accessibility is to be achieved faster in all areas.

People with disabilities should be able to live independently. The Left wants to remove barriers in the city faster. Public offices should give information in easy language. Groups that represent people with disabilities should get more money.

The party sees accessibility as a task for housing, education, transport and public authorities. Public bodies are to be more strongly required to provide easy-language information and accessible websites. Disability representatives, self-advocacy groups and the disability parliament are to get more support. Determining the degree of severe disability at the responsible office is to become faster. After psychiatric hospital treatment, follow-up care is to be arranged while the patient is still in the clinic.

The Left wants employees in sheltered workshops for people with disabilities to receive the minimum wage. Vocational training is also to become inclusive, and a benefit for people with hearing impairments is to be introduced.

Many people with disabilities work in special workshops. They get very little money there. The Left wants them to get the minimum wage. They should also be able to learn in regular vocational schools.

The party criticizes that workshop employees work far below the minimum wage even when they produce for large companies. Contact points that help people move into regular employment are to be financially secured. The separate Werkstufe (special vocational stage) is to be abolished and all students moved into regular vocational schools. Assistants in schools and daycare centers are to be well trained and paid accordingly; the party rejects lower standards. A benefit for people with hearing impairments is to be introduced, following the example of other states.

The Left wants to fold outsourced public-sector subsidiaries back into their parent organizations. The platform says these subsidiaries employ mostly women, have a wider pay gap and are used to escape collective agreements.

Some city tasks are done by subsidiary companies today. People there often earn less. The Left wants to bring these companies back. Women and men should earn the same for the same work.

The platform cites the services subsidiary of Gesundheit Nord and waste management as examples. It says the number of employees in such sub-companies has grown steadily for decades. The principle of equal pay for equal work should apply in public service and in companies partly owned by the state. To that end, the state equality law is to be developed further.