Linke on work and social affairs

The Left wants to improve working conditions at universities and cut back on fixed-term contracts. People doing permanent tasks are to get permanent positions. It supports a separate collective agreement for student employees.

The Left wants better jobs at universities. Many contracts there only run for a short time. Permanent tasks should come with permanent jobs. Students who work at the university should get a union contract.

At the federal level, the Left wants to press for a reform of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz, the law governing fixed-term contracts in academia. Minimum standards are to apply to student employees, such as contracts signed before work begins and pay on time. Contracts for project positions are to run as long as the project, with minimum terms and extensions when funding is renewed. A bridging fund is planned, and part of the project overhead is to go to staff on a binding basis. Departmental structures are to be expanded in place of the chair-based system.

The Left stands for basic income support without sanctions, a minimum pension of 1,400 euros, and a low-bureaucracy Kindergrundsicherung (basic child benefit). In the state, it wants to treat poverty preventively and over the long term as a task for all policy areas, because Saxony-Anhalt's poverty rate is above the national average.

The Left wants to end poverty in Saxony-Anhalt. Basic income support should be enough to live on. There should be no more penalties. Pensions should be at least 1,400 euros. Children should get their own basic benefit.

The platform notes that the state can only cushion federal policy and therefore wants to address poverty as a cross-cutting issue. It points to a large low-wage sector, which the party says makes the situation worse. Among the consequences it lists are housing problems, a shortage of skilled workers, and young families moving away. The Left accuses the outgoing state government of CDU, SPD, and FDP of merely administering poverty. The platform sees growing inequality as a threat to social cohesion.

The Left wants to deploy mobile advisers who help people apply for social and family benefits. The platform argues that existing support is often unknown and hard to access.

Many people do not know what help the state offers. Applications are often hard. The Left wants to introduce bureaucracy guides. These are advisers who come to the people. They help fill out the forms.

The guides are meant to be an easy-to-reach service that removes obstacles to applying. They would advise families locally, especially in rural areas. The advice would help people find their way among the available benefits and take each family's specific entitlements into account. The platform describes the current trips to offices and the paperwork as a time-consuming burden on families.

The Left wants a cross-departmental state action plan against poverty and ongoing social reporting. According to the platform, there has been no clear picture of social conditions for years, and past measures were spread around without planning.

The Left wants a plan against poverty in the state. The state should collect data on social conditions regularly. That way people can see which help works. Poor children should get better chances where they live.

A database would hold current figures on the social situation of all age groups and social classes, comparable with other German states. This is meant to allow targeted planning and to check whether measures work. The action plan would cover access to housing, health care, long-term care, education, culture, training, collective wage agreements and the labor market. In addition, a statewide strategy would build a connected local infrastructure to give children at risk of poverty more opportunities to take part. In the long run, the party wants to move from managing poverty to preventing it.

The Left wants to change the rules for full-time work so that a four-day week applies without a pay cut. This is meant to relieve families and keep parents from losing income by going part-time.

The Left wants a four-day week. Full-time would then mean four working days. Pay should stay the same. That gives parents more time for the family.

The demand appears among the family policy plans the party addresses to the federal government. The shorter working week is meant to give parents more time without having to switch to part-time work. This would avoid income losses.

The Left calls for a state framework agreement for facilities that care for people with intellectual disabilities. It should cover real costs, cut administrative work and leave more time for those in care.

Some facilities care for people with intellectual disabilities. The Left wants a contract with the state for them. The contract should pay all real costs. Caregivers should have more time for the people.

Besides actual costs, the agreement would include overarching tasks such as developing concepts, quality assurance and safety standards. Vacation trips with residents would become possible again. Less red tape is meant to leave more time for personal attention.

The Left wants a law guaranteeing older people in Saxony-Anhalt rights to participate in decisions. The state's seniors policy program is to become a binding strategy. Mobile guides are to help older people with applications, and services against social isolation are to grow.

Older people should have more of a say. The Left wants a special law for this. Helpers should assist retirees with applications and forms. They also come to villages. There should be more meeting places against loneliness.

According to the platform, about 28.6 percent of residents are over 65, more than the national average. It says municipal projects for older people often lack lasting funding. The mobile "bureaucracy guides" are to advise people, mainly in rural areas, on applying for benefits. Against loneliness, the Left plans an information campaign about support services as well as more local meeting places, leisure activities, assistance services and accessible community centers. It also wants to address the difficulties many older people have with digital technology.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child benefit) that protects against poverty and involves no sanctions. Until it takes effect, a state-level top-up would close the gap to the level of need recommended by experts. In addition, a basic package for children would become standard so that costs exclude no one.

The Left wants a basic child benefit from the federal government. This is money meant to protect children from poverty. Until it exists, the state should pay money itself. Children should reliably get lunch, trips and supplies. A device and internet are part of it too. This should apply to all children, including refugees.

The basic package covers lunch, fees, trips and supplies as well as a suitable device, stable internet access and guidance in using it. Libraries would serve as free access to reading, learning and digital tools, and verifiable quality standards are planned for school meals. The state top-up would not be offset against other benefits and would be phased down once the federal scheme takes effect. Both benefits would apply regardless of residency status and include children who receive support under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act.

In the long term, the Left aims for a 35-hour week with no loss of pay and six weeks of vacation for all employees. It also calls for a right to full-time work, a right to return from part-time, and stronger occupational safety. According to the platform, work should provide security and prospects.

In the long run, the Left wants a 35-hour work week. Pay should stay the same. All workers should get six weeks of vacation. Part-time workers should be allowed to go back to full-time. There should be no exceptions to the minimum wage.

The platform lists a right to full-time work and to return from part-time. Employees would be protected against overload from digitalization and mobile work, and occupational health and safety would be strengthened by law. Shift models should be family-friendly. The party rejects exceptions to the minimum wage as well as bonuses for night, shift, holiday, and overtime work that fall below collectively agreed levels. Inclusive jobs, for example for people with intellectual disabilities, would be created and preserved.

The Left wants to make collective bargaining coverage the norm again. A minimum wage of €16.50 would apply to public contracts and rise with inflation and collectively agreed wages. A training levy would make companies that do not train apprentices share in the costs.

The Left wants more companies to pay union-agreed wages. For government contracts, a minimum wage of €16.50 should apply. Companies without apprentices should help pay for training. Apprentices should get at least 80 percent of the union-agreed apprentice pay.

The procurement minimum wage would be implemented through a rigorous public procurement law. It should become easier to declare collective agreements generally binding, meaning they apply to all companies in a sector; the party wants to end employer-side blockades. The training levy would ease the burden on companies that train. All apprentices would receive at least 80 percent of the collectively agreed training pay. In the platform's view, declining bargaining coverage pushes down wages and quality of life.

The Left wants to give works councils a say in decisions on investments, locations, and digitalization. Regional economic and transformation councils would democratically plan the restructuring of the economy. The platform argues that employees bear the consequences of closures and relocations.

The Left wants workers to have more of a say. Works councils should help decide on investments and locations. Anyone who obstructs works councils should be punished hard. New regional councils should help plan the economy.

The party calls for tough penalties against union busting, meaning the targeted fight against unions and works councils. Works councils would be supported through education, health, and further training offers. A state program would support co-determination in small and medium-sized companies. Employees, unions, academia, and municipalities would take part in the regional councils. Public investment would be steered specifically by public-interest criteria.

The Left wants to ban decisions on subsistence benefits from being made by algorithms alone. It argues that AI systems risk perpetuating existing inequalities and that people without digital access could be shut out.

Some people need money from the state to live. The Left wants a human to always decide on this, not a computer alone. The party fears that computer programs treat people unfairly. There should still be offices that people can visit.

The two-person review rule for benefit decisions is to stay in place. People are to be able to have any AI-assisted decision checked by a human, and appeals are to be simple and free. If an algorithm denies a benefit, the agency is to have to prove the decision was right. AI systems in welfare administration are to be monitored regularly for discrimination. In-person offices are to be kept, expanded and reliably funded in every county. People who are entitled to benefits are to be informed automatically.