SPD on work and social affairs

The SPD wants to respond to job cuts, digitalization, demographic change and the climate-friendly restructuring of the economy with more further training. Training alliances are to grow, and every district is to have commissioners for good work and vocational training.

The world of work is changing a lot. So the SPD wants more further training. People should be able to learn new things on the job. Every district should have a person who looks after good working conditions. Workers should also learn how to use AI.

The state's skilled-labor strategy is to help companies draw on groups that are underused so far, such as women, older workers, people with a migration background and people with disabilities or chronic illness. Adult education is to be strengthened, and academic continuing education is to become a sovereign task of universities. A Berlin social partner dialogue is to serve as a standing forum for unions, employers and politicians. The district commissioners for good work and training are to be funded securely, and the DGB Good Work Index is to keep being evaluated for Berlin. The SPD also wants to promote AI skills among workers in all sectors and strengthen their rights when AI is used in companies.

The SPD wants to reduce long-term and youth unemployment through active labor market policy. Each year, 500 new jobs are to be created in the "Soziale Betriebe" (social enterprises) program, and existing counseling services are to continue.

More than 200,000 people in Berlin are out of work. The SPD wants to help them find jobs. Each year, 500 new subsidized jobs are to be created. Counseling centers are to stay. Women and single parents are to get special help.

The Berlin unemployment center, JobCoaching Berlin, the JOB POINTs and the education counseling service are to continue. Social enterprises hire long-term unemployed people in jobs with social insurance in areas close to the regular market; 500 places a year are to be added there. The SPD wants to remove barriers that make it harder for women in particular to enter the labor market and to ease the return to work after family or caregiving breaks. A new project called "Familien in Arbeit" (families in work) is meant to open up prospects mainly for single parents.

The SPD wants four out of five workers in Berlin to be covered by a collective agreement. To get there, compliance with collective wage rules and the procurement minimum wage in public contracts is to be enforced more strictly, and state subsidies are to be tied to collective bargaining and co-determination.

A collective agreement sets pay and hours for many workers. The SPD wants 80 percent of workers in Berlin to have one. Companies with public contracts should pay fairly. The state should check this more strictly. Only companies with a collective agreement should get state funding.

The register of collective agreements is to be expanded and digitized. A regional action plan is to help reach the 80 percent rate called for by the EU. Compliance with collective wage rules and the procurement minimum wage is to be checked more strictly so that public money stays tied to social standards. The SPD also wants to favor regional value creation in procurement and subsidies through local content rules in order to strengthen industry.

The SPD wants tougher action against employers who obstruct works councils. Such acts are to be prosecuted automatically by the authorities in the future, and the responsible unit in the public prosecutor's office is to be strengthened.

Works councils speak for the workers in a company. Some employers get in the way of this work. The SPD wants to pursue that more strictly. Prosecutors should then investigate on their own. There should also be a new meeting for works councils and politicians.

The obstruction of works council activity is to become, by federal law, an offense that authorities investigate even without a formal complaint. The specialized prosecution unit for attacks on co-determination is to be strengthened. A conference of works and staff councils is planned for exchange with politicians and unions. The Good Work network office is to be expanded, and a feasibility study with the unions is to examine whether Berlin should get a chamber of labor. Where legally possible, the state staff representation law is to cover religious communities as well.

The SPD wants to strengthen dual vocational training and found an Azubi-Werk (apprentice services agency) that advises apprentices and provides them with affordable housing. A training levy is also to come: companies without apprentices would then help pay the costs of companies that train.

The SPD wants to help apprentices. A new apprentice agency should advise them and create cheap housing. The apprentice transit ticket should stay. Companies without apprentices should pay money. This money goes to the companies that do train.

The Azubi-Werk is to follow models in other large cities and involve the social partners so that employers contribute. The reasoning is that hardly any apprentice in Berlin can afford housing alone. Career guidance, training advice and the move from school to work are to be improved, and the BEMA counseling center is to be expanded. To stop the exploitation of apprentices from non-EU countries, the SPD plans a new contact point that brings together advice, inspections and criminal prosecution.

The SPD wants the state to be a model employer: all state-owned companies are to be bound by collective agreements and must not spin off units to avoid them. Earlier spin-offs made for that purpose are to be reversed. Workplace safety oversight is also to be strengthened.

The state of Berlin owns companies. These companies should pay according to collective agreements. They should not split off parts to push wages down. Where that has already happened, the SPD wants to undo it. The workplace safety authority should become stronger.

Spin-offs meant to cut staff costs or curtail co-determination are to be reversed. In the administration, the SPD wants to allow more flexible working hours in employees' interest and test this in pilot projects with staff representatives and unions. The workplace safety authority is to order the recording of working hours at companies that disregard the rules. Berlin is also to accompany European initiatives, such as the EU roadmap for good work, platform work and the employment of people from non-EU countries.

The SPD wants to foster cohesion in neighborhoods by expanding community centers and public services. New meeting places are to be created in every district. Social service providers are to be enabled to pay their staff at collectively agreed rates.

The SPD wants to strengthen neighborhoods. Every district should get new places to meet. Nobody has to spend money there. There should also be cheap canteens nearby. Schoolyards should be open on weekends.

Community centers and mobile neighborhood work are to receive more support. Neighborhood canteens are to offer affordable, healthy and sustainable food close to home. Every neighborhood is to have places where people of all ages can spend time without having to buy anything. Schools are to open up in the afternoons for outside activities, work more closely with family centers and make their yards accessible on weekends too. A regular citywide "Berlin Day" is meant to bring neighbors together to get involved locally.

The SPD wants to make old-age poverty the focus of its anti-poverty policy and expand social counseling for this purpose. Older people are to live independently and take part in all areas of life. The program bases this on respect for what they have achieved in life.

Some old people have very little money. The SPD wants to help them in particular. There should be more advice that is easy to reach. Help should arrive without hurdles. Culture, sports and education should be possible on a small pension too.

The SPD wants to promote a modern image of aging that recognizes how varied growing older is. Seniors are to be able to participate equally even when illness, disability or care needs arise. Social benefits are to reach those entitled simply and without stigma. Older people's civic engagement is to become more visible; to this end the SPD wants to strengthen community centers, multigenerational houses and neighborhood projects.

The SPD wants people with disabilities to be able to take part everywhere and wants to remove barriers. A new state-owned company is to operate as an inclusive business and improve access to the regular labor market. Public services and counseling are to be accessible as a rule.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The SPD wants to remove barriers. Public offices should be easy for everyone to use. The state should set up its own company. This company should give jobs to people with disabilities.

The "Berlin Inklusiv" action plan will be updated, and the views of people with disabilities are to feed into all laws and procedures. Training in the public service is to include, for example, German Sign Language. Also planned are a concept to secure mobility, better protection from violence for women with disabilities and guaranteed access to police and courts. A "Fonds Soziales Berlin" plus provider and flexible budgets are to strengthen participation and cut red tape. The participation company is to bring services back into public hands; a special focus is on young people moving from school into training and work.

The SPD wants to draw up an anti-poverty strategy that covers every stage of life and starts early. A central coordination office is to bundle the administration's work. Consumer protection is also to be strengthened, including with the help of AI.

Many people in Berlin are poor. The SPD wants to make a big plan against poverty. A new office should organize the work of the authorities. The SPD also wants to protect consumers better. This matters most with fraud on the internet.

The SPD does not want poverty to push those affected out of social life. The coordination office is to bring together the administration's responsibilities and resources. Reporting on poverty and social conditions will be developed further and is to serve as a basis for political decisions. Consumer protection is about reliable advice, knowing one's rights and protection from high costs. Because online fraud through fake shops, phishing or identity theft is on the rise, AI is to be used in consumer protection as part of a Berlin AI strategy.

The SPD wants to end homelessness in Berlin by 2030. It plans to found a "SozialWohnWerk" (social housing agency) that secures apartments for homeless people. The guiding principle is Housing First: an apartment of one's own comes at the start of support.

The SPD wants no one in Berlin to be homeless by 2030. It will set up a new housing agency. The agency finds apartments for homeless people. The apartment comes first, other help comes after.

The planned SozialWohnWerk would also use vacant office buildings; the target is 2,500 apartments in the protected housing segment. Following Hamburg's example, a central state-owned body would manage accommodation for homeless people. The SPD wants to expand counseling and care and fund them permanently, including psychosocial and addiction counseling, clearing offices, and services for women, children, and young people. Youth services, integration assistance, and housing emergency aid are to cooperate more closely. Cold- and heat-weather aid would be expanded, and day centers with enough accessible places would be added alongside emergency shelters.