What do the parties say on work and social affairs?

The AfD wants an “activating basic income support” to move recipients of Bürgergeld (citizen's income) who can work into jobs. People who work should always be clearly better off than those on benefits. Skilled workers are to be kept in the country, and retirees encouraged to keep working through a tax allowance.

The AfD wants more people to work. People on Bürgergeld who can work should go back to work. Bürgergeld is a basic welfare payment. People who work should have clearly more money. Retirees should pay less tax if they keep working.

The AfD wants to tighten access to unemployment benefits for new workers: entitlement would arise only after three years of contributions and initially last six months. Those who caused their own unemployment are to receive no benefit.

The AfD wants new rules for unemployment pay. People who start their first job from 2026 must pay in for three years first. Then they get money for six months at first. People who caused their own job loss get nothing.

The AfD wants to overhaul Bürgergeld (citizen's income) under its own concept and get recipients who are able to work back into jobs quickly. In the platform's view, the benefit rates mean work no longer pays for many. Recipients of old-age basic support are no longer to be worse off regarding protected assets and car ownership.

The AfD wants to change Bürgergeld. Bürgergeld is basic income support. The new model is called activating basic income support. People without work should go back to work quickly. The AfD says the benefit is too high and work often does not pay. Poor retirees should get the same rules for savings and cars.

The AfD wants to keep specialized Förderschulen (special-needs schools) and better reward relatives who care for disabled people at home. People working in sheltered workshops are to receive the minimum wage. The platform names a life as self-determined as possible as the overarching goal.

The AfD wants to keep special schools. These are schools for children with disabilities. Relatives should get more money for care at home. People in sheltered workshops should get the minimum wage. There should be less red tape.

The AfD wants to fundamentally restructure Bürgergeld (citizen's income). Recipients who are able to work and still draw benefits after half a year would have to do community service. The platform says this would get people back into jobs faster and lower costs for taxpayers.

The AfD wants to change Bürgergeld. That is a basic welfare payment. Some people get it for more than 6 months. If they can work, they should do community work. The AfD says this helps people find jobs faster.

The BSW wants to reform the procedure used to determine whether someone is self-employed or an employee. Clients should again be able to hire self-employed people without legal risk. At the same time, everyone who works, including the self-employed, should pay into the social insurance systems.

Companies and schools should be able to hire freelancers safely. The BSW wants to change the checking rules for this. All working people should pay into social insurance. That would include the self-employed too.

The BSW wants to raise the minimum wage to 15 euros immediately and keep it permanently above the poverty line. Minijobs would be converted into regular jobs with social insurance, and fixed-term contracts without objective reason would end. The party cites wage dumping and workers' lack of planning security.

The BSW wants a minimum wage of 15 euros an hour. It should apply right away. Minijobs should become normal jobs with social insurance. The BSW rejects temporary contracts without a reason.

The BSW wants far more workers covered by collective agreements. Public contracts and subsidies would go only to companies that pay union-scale wages. Works councils should be easier to set up and get more say.

The BSW wants more collective wage agreements. The state should give contracts only to firms paying those wages. Works councils should be easier to start. Workers should have more say.

The BSW wants to replace Bürgergeld (citizen's income) with expanded unemployment insurance and a basic benefit. Long-term contributors would get 60 percent of their last net pay until a suitable job is found. Benefit abuse would be checked more closely.

The BSW wants to replace Bürgergeld (citizen's income). People who worked for a long time should get unemployment pay longer. That is 60 percent of their last net pay. People who refuse training without good reason face consequences.

The CDU and the CSU want to move social insurance contributions back toward 40 percent. This is meant above all to relieve low earners. An annual report is to show how the social insurance funds are developing.

The CDU and the CSU want lower payments for social insurance. The payments should move back toward 40 percent. This should help people with low pay. A report should check the social funds every year.

The CDU and the CSU want to change the Working Hours Act and replace the daily maximum working time with a weekly one. Remote work and working from home are also to get clearer legal rules. The platform regards labor law as outdated and wants to adapt it to a digital world of work.

The CDU and the CSU want to change the rules on working hours. Today there is a limit per day. In the future there should be a limit per week. Working from home should also get clear rules.

The CDU and the CSU want a skilled-labor drive to bring more people in Germany into work or longer hours. Above all, women working part-time are to find it easier to work more, and unskilled helpers are to catch up on a vocational qualification. The platform sees the labor shortage as a risk to Germany as a business location.

The CDU and the CSU say: Germany lacks workers. Women in part-time jobs should find it easier to work more. People should be able to deduct more household help from their taxes. Helpers should be able to get a job qualification later.

The CDU and the CSU want to abolish Bürgergeld (citizen's income) in its current form and introduce a "Neue Grundsicherung" (new basic income support). In the parties' view, Bürgergeld weakens the incentive to work; anyone who can work and refuses work on principle is to get no benefit at all.

The CDU and the CSU want to end Bürgergeld (citizen's income). A new basic support should replace it. People who can work should work. People who refuse all work should get no more money. The office should check people's assets from day one.

The CDU and the CSU want more employees to be covered by collective agreements and want to modernize worker participation in companies. They want to keep the statutory minimum wage, but its level is to remain a matter for the independent commission, not parliament.

The CDU and the CSU want more collective agreements. These are contracts between unions and employers about pay and work. The minimum wage should stay. A commission should decide how high it is, not politicians. Works councils should also be able to meet and vote online.

The CDU and the CSU want to make it easier for people with disabilities to enter training and work and to remove everyday barriers faster. Alongside inclusive options, sheltered workshops and special-needs schools are to be kept.

The CDU and the CSU want to help people with disabilities more. They should find training and work more easily. Buses and trains should become barrier-free faster. Sheltered workshops and special schools should stay.

The FDP wants to replace the daily maximum working time with a weekly one and simplify labor law. It rejects a statutory four-day week at full pay and political interference in the Minimum Wage Commission.

Today there is a limit on working time per day. The FDP wants a limit per week instead. People should be able to plan their work more freely. The FDP rejects a law for a four-day week.

The FDP wants to put the self-employed on an equal footing with employees and reform the procedure that determines whether someone is self-employed or an employee. The self-employed would be free to choose how they save for retirement.

The FDP wants fairer treatment for self-employed people. Their health insurance payments should depend on their real income. There should be clear rules on who counts as self-employed. They should choose their retirement savings freely.

The FDP wants new rules for strikes in critical sectors. In its view, strikes there risk disproportionate harm to society, which distorts the bargaining power of the parties.

The FDP wants new rules for strikes. This applies to important areas like trains, hospitals and daycare. Strikes there must be announced early. An emergency service must keep running.

The FDP wants to fundamentally restructure Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and gear it more toward taking up work. The unemployed would have to prove their own efforts, sanctions would be tougher and the standard rate lower. The program cites work incentives and fairness to taxpayers.

The FDP wants to change Bürgergeld a lot. Bürgergeld is the basic benefit for people without work. Jobless people should prove that they are looking for work. Those who make no effort get less money step by step. The standard rate should go down.

The FDP wants to merge tax-funded benefits such as Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and housing benefit into a single payment handled by one agency. The tax and welfare systems would be aligned along the lines of a negative income tax so that extra work pays.

Today there are many different welfare benefits. The FDP wants to turn them into one single benefit. One office should be in charge. People who work more should keep more money.

The FDP wants to let employees pay lower unemployment insurance contributions in exchange for a lower unemployment benefit. It cites the shrinking risk of long-term unemployment amid labor shortages and greater personal responsibility.

Employees pay into unemployment insurance. The FDP wants to allow a choice. Those who pay in less get less unemployment benefit later. In return, more of their wages is left over.

The FDP wants to prevent social security contributions from rising ever further above 40 percent. Future governments would be obliged to take countermeasures. In the party's view, high contributions burden workers and businesses and hold back new jobs.

The FDP wants to limit social security contributions. These are payments for pensions, health care and long-term care. They should not keep rising above 40 percent. The government would then have to act.

The Free Voters want to make working-time rules fundamentally more flexible. A weekly maximum working time should apply instead of a daily one, as permitted by the EU Working Time Directive.

Today there is a limit on working hours per day. The Free Voters want a limit per week instead. People can then arrange their work more freely. Health protection should stay in place.

The Free Voters want to fundamentally review and reform Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and drop the name. People able to work should be pushed more firmly toward work, and Ukrainians should no longer receive the benefit automatically.

The Free Voters want to change Bürgergeld. It should be called social assistance again. People who can work should work. Those who refuse suitable work should get less than sick people. Ukrainians should no longer get the money automatically.

The Free Voters want to make accessibility mandatory in public spaces and to support accessible construction with subsidies. Applications for inclusion measures should be possible digitally. The aim is full participation for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The Free Voters want public squares and pedestrian zones without obstacles. For example, there should be ramps and elevators. Those who build without obstacles should get money from the state. Applications should be possible online.

The Free Voters want to fund clubs and initiatives that work against loneliness. Access to leisure activities, volunteering and places to meet is meant to prevent isolation.

Many people feel alone. The Free Voters want to change that. Clubs should get money for meetups and shared projects. There should be more places where people can meet.

The Greens want everyday life to stay affordable. To that end, electricity is to become cheaper and mobility affordable.

The Greens want daily life to be affordable. Electricity should get cheaper. Buses, trains and travel should be affordable. Rents should stay affordable too.

The Greens want to ease the shortage of workers and skilled staff by enabling more people in Germany to work. Vocational training and continuing education would be strengthened, older people would get incentives to work longer, and people with disabilities would find work more easily.

Germany lacks many workers. The Greens want to make job training more attractive. People who want to learn new job skills would get help. Older people would get benefits if they work longer. People with disabilities would find work more easily.

The Greens want to raise the statutory minimum wage to an initial 15 euros in 2025 and increase it step by step after that. It would also apply to minors. The platform justifies this with the inflation of recent years.

The Greens want a higher minimum wage. It should first be 15 euros per hour. After that it should keep rising. It should also apply to workers under 18.

The Greens want more employees to be paid under collective agreements, which the platform says brings higher pay and better working conditions. It should become easier to declare agreements binding for whole sectors, and larger federal contracts should go only to companies that pay collectively agreed wages.

The Greens want more collective agreements. A collective agreement sets pay and working conditions for many workers. The federal government should give big contracts only to firms that pay these wages. Pay in East and West Germany should also become equal.

The Greens want to give works councils and other employee representatives more rights. In the platform's view, co-determination builds trust and acceptance, especially when companies are undergoing change.

The Greens want workers to have more say at work. Works councils should help decide on more topics. New works councils should be easier to set up. Elections should also be possible online.

The Greens want to crack down on bogus self-employment, abuse of contracts for work, and undeclared work. They reject fixed-term contracts without objective grounds and longer working hours, and want time recording regulated by law.

The Greens want to protect workers better. They oppose undeclared work and fake self-employment. Contracts should not be limited in time without a reason. Working hours should not get longer. Companies should record working hours digitally.

The Greens want to reform the special labor law that applies to churches. Exemptions for churches in two laws would be removed, and unions would have more say in church-run workplaces.

Special rules apply today to churches as employers. The Greens want to change these rules. Exceptions for churches in two laws should end. Unions should have more say. Nothing changes for preaching and pastoral work.

The Greens want to gradually replace mini-jobs with employment covered by social insurance. In the platform's view, mini-jobs act as a part-time trap, especially for women, and worsen old-age poverty and labor shortages.

The Greens want to change mini-jobs step by step. Mini-jobs should become jobs with social insurance. Then people are better protected. Some groups can keep mini-jobs.

The Greens want to keep Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and adjust it regularly so that it covers the minimum needed to live and take part in society. Training and support should keep priority over quick job placement.

The Greens want to keep Bürgergeld. This is basic income support. The amount should be adjusted regularly. It should always be enough to live and take part in society. Job centers should help people with training and counseling.

The Greens want welfare benefits to be simpler, more standardized and paid out automatically where possible. At the same time, extra work should pay off more for benefit recipients, and self-employed people should get easier access to unemployment insurance.

The Greens want to make the welfare system simpler. People should have to fill out fewer forms. Those who work more should end up with more money. Self-employed people should find it easier to insure against job loss.

The Greens want to write accessibility into law for all areas of life and make it easier to enforce. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities serves as the benchmark. A parliamentary study commission on inclusion is to draw up comprehensive proposals.

The Greens want accessibility everywhere. That means everyone can use things without barriers. Federal buildings should be barrier-free within ten years. Shops and services should also take care of this. A commission should make proposals.

The Greens want to gradually convert sheltered workshops for people with disabilities into inclusive companies. There, people with and without disabilities would work together and earn at least the minimum wage. The goal is for people with disabilities to earn their living in the regular labor market.

Many people with disabilities work in special workshops. The Greens want to change these workshops step by step. Everyone should work together there. Everyone should get at least the minimum wage. Companies should hire more people with disabilities.

The Greens want to make Eingliederungshilfe (integration assistance for people with disabilities) simpler and faster to access. People should decide for themselves where and how they live. Support should not depend on income or assets.

People with disabilities get help from the state. The Greens want to make this help simpler. Applications should be fast and digital. The help should not depend on a person's own money. Everyone should decide for themselves where to live.

The Left wants to replace Bürgergeld (citizen's income) with an individual minimum income without sanctions, pegged to the at-risk-of-poverty line of currently about 1,400 euros a month. In the platform's view, poverty and unemployment mostly have structural causes and are not people's own fault.

The Left wants to change the basic welfare payment. Each person would get a minimum income. There would be no cuts as punishment. It would be about 1,400 euros a month. Rent is already included in that.

The Left advocates shorter working weeks at full pay, such as 32 hours or a four-day week. Parents would be protected from dismissal until their child's sixth birthday. This is meant above all to help single parents combine work and family.

The Left wants shorter working hours for the same pay. For example, four days of work per week. Parents of small children should be harder to fire. The protection would last until the child is six.

The Left wants to ban age discrimination in the Basic Law and give older people a legal right to elder assistance. It also plans age-appropriate housing and a free nationwide transit ticket for seniors. The goal is self-determined aging without poverty or disadvantage.

The Left wants to protect older people better. Nobody should be treated worse because of age. This would be in the constitution. There would be more homes without barriers. Older people would ride buses and trains for free.

The Left wants to raise the statutory minimum wage to 16 euros by 2026 at the latest and tie it to the median wage. It cites the EU minimum wage directive, which names 60 percent of median income as a benchmark.

The minimum wage is the lowest pay allowed. The Left wants to raise it to 16 euros an hour. That should apply by 2026 at the latest. After that it should rise every year. It should apply to everyone, with no exceptions.

The Left wants more workers to be covered by collective agreements. Public contracts would go only to companies that comply with such agreements, and it would become easier to make agreements binding for entire industries.

A collective agreement sets pay and working hours for many workers. The Left wants more people to have one. The government should give contracts only to companies that follow collective agreements. It should be easier to make an agreement apply to a whole industry.

The Left wants to ban temporary agency work and abolish fixed-term contracts without objective justification to give workers more security. Minijobs and Midijobs (low-hours jobs with reduced social contributions) would be replaced by jobs with full social insurance.

The Left wants secure jobs. Temp agency work should be banned. Contracts should no longer be time-limited without a reason. Minijobs should also end. Every job should be fully insured for sickness, retirement and unemployment.

The Left wants shorter working hours with full pay, for example as a four-day week, and wants to lower the legal weekly maximum to 40 hours. The statutory vacation entitlement would rise to six weeks.

The Left wants people to work less and earn the same. One example is the four-day week. No one should have to work more than 40 hours a week. Everyone should get six weeks of vacation a year. Twice in their working life, people should be able to take a year off.

The Left wants to give works councils and staff councils an enforceable right of co-determination on key company decisions. In companies with 500 or more employees, workers and shareholders would have equal representation on the supervisory board.

The Left wants workers to have more say in their company. The works council should help decide important questions. For example, when a plant is supposed to close. In larger companies, workers should get half the seats on the supervisory board.

The Left wants every workplace to have a works council. Elections are to become easier, and anyone obstructing them is to be prosecuted more strictly. Work organized through digital platforms is to count as regular employment by default.

The Left wants a works council in every workplace. A works council speaks for the workers. Electing one should be easier. People who block an election should be punished. People who work through an online platform should count as employees.

The Left wants to abolish the special labor law that applies to churches and their welfare organizations. The right to strike is to cover church employees and civil servants as well, and political strikes are to be allowed. The Tarifeinheitsgesetz (collective bargaining unity act) is to be repealed.

Churches have their own rules for their workers. The Left wants to end these special rules. Civil servants and church workers should be allowed to strike. Strikes for political goals should be allowed too.

The Left wants to require companies to train their employees and to set up sector-wide funds for this. Employees are to be able to cut their hours for training while keeping most of their pay. People who lose their job or change sectors are to receive a training allowance of 90 percent.

Companies should train their workers. All companies in a sector pay into one fund for this. People in training may work fewer hours. They still get most of their pay. People who lose their job get 90 percent of their last pay during training.

The Left wants to raise unemployment benefit to 68 percent and pay it for longer. More people are to gain access to unemployment insurance, and benefit suspension periods are to be dropped.

The Left wants to pay more unemployment benefit. It should be 68 percent. People should get it for longer. More people should qualify. There should be no more suspension periods. In a suspension period, people get no money.

The Left wants to introduce an enforceable right to paid work. Publicly funded jobs are to be created for people who are permanently shut out of the regular labor market. Unemployed people are to get a legal entitlement to training.

The Left wants a right to work. People should be able to claim this right in court. The state should fund extra jobs. They are for people who cannot find work for a long time. Unemployed people should have a right to training.

The Left wants to move vacant commercial space such as shopping malls into municipal or cooperative ownership and set up care centers there. These are meant to ease the burden of caregiving and daily life; the platform speaks of socializing care work.

Many department stores are empty. The Left wants to give them to towns or cooperatives. Care centers should open there. The centers help people who care for relatives, for example.

The Left wants to require companies to fill six percent of their jobs with people with disabilities, with no option to buy their way out. The minimum wage should apply in sheltered workshops. The party notes that unemployment in this group is twice the overall rate.

Companies should hire more people with disabilities. Six out of a hundred jobs should be for them. Companies should not be able to pay to avoid this. Workshops should pay the minimum wage.

The ÖDP wants to shift social insurance to tax funding and include all citizens. Contributions levied on work would fall, and everyone would benefit equally from the system.

The ÖDP wants to pay for social insurance in a new way. The money should come from taxes. Payments taken from wages should go down. Everyone pays in and everyone gets benefits.

The ÖDP wants to introduce a tax-free basic payment for everyone that includes compensation for carbon pricing. Social benefits would be an individual entitlement, and in crises aid would be paid as flat sums without lengthy checks.

The ÖDP wants to give everyone a fixed amount of money from the state. It includes a payback for the carbon price. Each person should get social benefits in their own right. It should not matter who they live with. In a crisis, help should come fast.

The PdF wants to make understaffed occupations more attractive through higher pay and better working conditions, and to subsidize more training places. According to the platform, the background is that baby boomers will retire by 2035 and the working-age population will shrink.

Many jobs lack skilled workers, for example in nursing care. The PdF wants better pay and working conditions there. The government should fund more training places. A master craftsman title should count as much as a master's degree. The government should also support further training.

The PdF wants to make it easier for older people to keep working after reaching retirement age. This is meant to ease the skills shortage in the short term.

Some people want to keep working at retirement age. The PdF wants to make that easier. For example, they should get tax advantages. This should reduce the shortage of skilled workers.

The PdF wants moderate minimum wage increases tied to economic performance, reaching 15 euros step by step in the long run. Small businesses are to get relief so they are not overburdened.

The PdF wants to raise the minimum wage slowly. In the long run it should be 15 euros. The increases should fit the state of the economy. Small businesses should get help.

The PdF wants job seekers and vacancies to find each other more easily. It plans a state-funded digital job portal, incentives to move to regions short of skilled workers, and coordinated training programs.

Job seekers and open jobs often do not match. The PdF wants to fund a digital job portal. People who move for a job should get money and benefits. Schools and companies should develop fitting courses.

The PdF wants a legal entitlement to work from home wherever the job allows it. In addition, state-funded pilot projects are to test the four-day week at full pay, and flexible working-time models are to be promoted.

The PdF wants a right to work from home. This applies only if the job allows it. Companies should be able to test the four-day week. The state should support these tests. Working hours should become more flexible.

The PdF wants to greatly simplify applications for Grundsicherung (basic income support) and other benefits and to raise the exempt allowances in basic income support. A fund would ease the burden on single women, who the platform says are hit especially often by old-age poverty.

Many older people are poor. Some do not apply for help because the forms are hard. The PdF wants to make the forms easier. Older people should be allowed to keep more of their own money. There should be a special fund for single women.

The PdF wants day centers and meeting places for older people in every neighborhood and support for volunteer visiting services. The platform points to the growing number of seniors living alone who are affected by loneliness.

Many older people live alone and feel lonely. The PdF wants meeting places for them in every neighborhood. Ride services should bring people there. Volunteer visitors should get money and training. Simple apps should help people stay in touch.

The PdF wants to ease the financial burden on young people with a youth allowance against higher prices and with investment in social housing and dormitories. It is responding to young people's worries about inflation, expensive rents and old-age poverty.

Many young people worry about money. The PdF wants to pay them an allowance because prices are rising. The state should build cheap apartments and dorms for young people. Pensions should also change so young people are not poor later.

The SPD wants to tackle the skilled-labor shortage with better vocational training, more upskilling and continued immigration of skilled workers. It rejects longer working hours or weaker protections for employees.

Germany lacks skilled workers. The SPD wants to spend more on training. Young people without a degree should get a chance. Women in part-time work or mini-jobs should be able to work more if they want. Skilled workers from abroad should keep coming too.

The SPD wants to secure employment during economic upheaval through training, short-time work and direct job-to-job placement. People who take training while unemployed would be able to draw unemployment benefits for longer as a result.

The SPD wants to protect jobs. People who lose a job should find a new one fast. People who are jobless and learn new skills get unemployment pay for longer. The time spent learning will not count.

The SPD wants to reform the Works Constitution Act and give works councils full co-determination rights in several areas. Employee rights on supervisory boards are also to be strengthened and workarounds stopped.

Works councils speak for the workers in a company. The SPD wants to give them more rights. For example, they should help decide on staffing and on artificial intelligence. People who obstruct works councils should be punished more easily.

The SPD wants to abolish fixed-term employment contracts that lack an objective reason. It also wants to expand health protection at work and keep sick pay in place.

Some job contracts end after a set time for no reason. The SPD wants to ban that. It also wants to protect health at work better. People who are sick should keep getting paid.

The SPD wants every employment relationship to be covered by social insurance and wants to make it easier to move from mini-jobs into insured work. In the platform's view, mini-jobs lead to poverty in old age. The SPD also backs equal pay for equal work and work of equal value.

Mini-jobs have little social protection today. The SPD wants to change that. Every job should pay into social insurance. There are exceptions for some groups, such as retirees. Women and men should earn the same.

The SPD wants to make every recipient of Bürgergeld (citizen's income) a suitable offer and put more money into active labor market policy. It keeps the duty to cooperate, saying Bürgergeld is not an unconditional basic income.

People who get Bürgergeld should receive a suitable offer of work. Job centers should get more money and staff. People still have to cooperate. The SPD says Bürgergeld comes with conditions.

The statutory minimum wage is to rise to 15 euros by 2026 at the latest. The SPD bases this on the European directive, under which it should reach at least 60 percent of the median income.

The minimum wage is the lowest pay allowed. The SPD wants to raise it to 15 euros an hour. That should apply by 2026 at the latest. A European rule serves as the yardstick.

The SPD wants to bring considerably more employees under collective agreements. A Bundestariftreuegesetz (federal collective-wage compliance law) would tie federal contracts to collectively agreed pay. In the platform's view, collective agreements mean higher pay and better working conditions.

Collective agreements set pay and working rules for many workers. The SPD wants more companies to pay by these agreements. The federal government should give contracts only to such companies. The right to strike should stay as it is.

The SPD wants to organize the welfare state around people's life situations rather than agency responsibilities. Applications would be simplified, benefits combined and central contact points created. Certain benefits would be paid without an application.

The SPD wants to make getting help from the state easier. There should be one place for all questions. Nobody should have to go from office to office. Child benefit should come automatically. People would not need to apply.

The Tierschutzpartei calls for a minimum wage of at least 15 euros by 2026 and considers 18 euros appropriate. The wage tax should be lowered. Collective bargaining agreements should apply to all companies and sectors.

The party wants a higher minimum wage. It should be at least 15 euros by 2026. The party thinks 18 euros would be right. Workers should pay less wage tax. Union pay agreements should apply to all companies.

The Tierschutzpartei advocates a four-day week or a 35-hour week with no loss of pay. It also wants a right to work from home, more educational leave, and an entitlement to a sabbatical year. According to the platform, this would promote health, productivity, and work-life balance.

The party wants shorter working hours. Pay should stay the same. Everyone should have a right to work from home. There should be more days off for training. Everyone should be able to take up to one year off.

The Tierschutzpartei wants to tie fines and administrative fees to the income of the person concerned. It considers flat amounts socially unjust because they hit people with little money harder.

Fines and office fees should depend on income. People who earn little should pay less. The party thinks the same amount for everyone is unfair.

Volt wants to give everyone a right to be released from work for further training in future-oriented occupations. Large companies would have to pay for training when they lay people off for business reasons. The goal is for everyone to have a chance in the job market and contribute to the economy.

Volt wants a right to further training. Everyone should get time off work for it. This applies to jobs with a future, such as in technology. Big companies should pay for training when they lay people off.

Volt wants to tie the minimum wage to the median gross wage and raise it to 60 percent of that figure. Based on 2024 data, that would be €14.61. The platform says this would secure people's livelihood and lead to adequate pension entitlements.

Volt wants a higher minimum wage. It should be 60 percent of the middle wage. In 2024 that would be €14.61 per hour. The minimum wage should be recalculated regularly. People should be able to live on their work.

Volt wants a fundamental reform of mini-jobs (marginal employment) and wants to bring these workers into the social insurance system. The aim is to close gaps in coverage and make it easier to move into regular employment.

Volt wants to change the rules for mini-jobs. These are small jobs with low pay. People in mini-jobs should be covered by social insurance. Then they have better protection. Moving to a regular job should become easier. There should also be less paperwork.

Volt wants to improve the legal position of people who work through digital platforms. Workers in fields such as passenger transport and logistics would be recognized as employees by law. Bogus self-employment and day labor would be tackled.

Some people work through apps, for example as drivers or couriers. Volt wants to protect them better. The law should treat them as employees. Then they have the same rights as other workers. They should also have social protection.

Volt wants to make working-time law more flexible along the lines of the EU Working Time Directive, using average weekly working time as the reference. At the same time, worker protection would be increased where flexibility causes disadvantages.

Volt wants to change the rules on working hours. Working time should be spread more freely over the week. Working hours should fit people's lives better. Shorter rest periods should only be allowed when working from home. Where the new rules do harm, protection should get stronger.

Volt wants to promote working from home and remote work and give them a clearer legal footing. Whether a job counts as a home-office position would be settled at the start of employment and become a binding part of the contract.

Volt wants to support working from home. It should be clear from the start whether a job allows this. It should be written in the work contract. Then both sides know where they stand. Work and private life should fit together better.

Volt wants to introduce a basic income that covers the cost of living and is designed as a negative income tax. It would replace existing welfare benefits, protect against poverty and cut administrative effort.

Volt wants a basic income. People with no income get money from the state automatically. They do not have to apply. The money replaces other state benefits.

Volt wants to restructure the Ausgleichsabgabe, the levy paid by employers that employ too few people with disabilities. It would be based on a percentage of average gross monthly income and on the size of the company.

Companies must hire people with disabilities. If they hire too few, they pay a levy. Volt wants to calculate this levy in a new way. Large companies should pay more than small ones. Companies that create extra jobs should get tax benefits.

Volt wants to abolish sheltered workshops for people with disabilities and replace them with inclusive companies that pay the minimum wage and grant employee rights. The platform points to the Netherlands as a model.

Today many people with disabilities work in special workshops. Volt wants to end these workshops. They should become companies open to everyone. There, workers get the minimum wage and normal employee rights.

Volt regards sex work as a legal profession and as part of bodily self-determination. It would be put on an equal footing with other work under labor law, and remaining criminal provisions and the mandatory health counseling would be dropped. The party wants to reduce discrimination against people working in the sex trade.

Volt says sex work is a job like others. The same work rules should apply to it. Required health counseling should end. Tests for infections should be free. Victims of human trafficking should be allowed to stay in Germany.