What do the parties in Hesse say on work and social affairs?

The AfD wants Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and social assistance tied strictly to actual need, with existing sanctions applied. At the same time, benefit rates should follow price developments. Foreigners who are required to leave should be deported instead of continuing to receive benefits.

The AfD wants Bürgergeld only for people who really need help. Bürgergeld is basic income support from the state. People who break the rules should get less money. The payments should rise with prices. Foreigners without the right to stay should leave and get no more benefits.

The AfD wants to substantially improve working conditions in nursing and child care and raise the standing of these professions. It justifies this with staff shortages, which it attributes to low pay, heavy strain and low social status.

There are not enough workers in nursing care and in day care. The AfD wants to make this work better. These jobs should get more respect. Pay should go up.

The AfD wants a major expansion of further training and retraining, especially for Bürgergeld recipients who want to work in nursing or child care. At the same time, providers of such programs are to be comprehensively monitored by the state to prevent misuse of public funds.

The AfD wants more training and retraining. This should mainly help people who get Bürgergeld. They should be able to become nurses or child care workers, for example. The state should check the course providers closely. That way no money is wasted.

The AfD wants people with disabilities to be more strongly included in the labor market. Their pay is to rise and higher exemption amounts would apply so that a noticeable share of their wages remains despite benefits. More trainers and support staff are to be recruited and employers given advantages.

People with disabilities should find work more easily. They should get higher pay. They should keep more of their wages, even if they get benefits. There should be more trainers and support staff. Companies that employ them should get advantages.

The AfD wants to stop companies from sidestepping mandatory social insurance through outsourcing or contracts for work (Werkverträge). Regular employment contracts are to be enforced more strongly. This is meant to protect workers and strengthen the social insurance funds, especially the pension system.

Some companies use special contracts so they pay no social insurance. The AfD wants to stop this. There should be more regular work contracts. Then workers are better insured. The pension fund also gets more money.

The AfD wants to secure older people's participation in society, including through senior citizens' councils and educational offerings in municipalities. Age-appropriate, barrier-free housing is to be promoted through a change in the law. Volunteer work by seniors should be recognized, for example with expense allowances.

Older people should be able to take part everywhere. Towns should set up senior councils. These are groups that speak for older people. There should be more homes without barriers. Older people who volunteer should get some money for it.

The AfD wants to end Hesse's system in which responsibility for people with disabilities changes with age. The Landeswohlfahrtsverband (LWV, the state welfare association) would care for them throughout their lives. The platform says this would ensure equal care across the state and cut duplicate structures.

Today, different offices help people with disabilities depending on their age. The AfD wants to change that. One body should help them for their whole life. This body is the state welfare association. The party says this means less paperwork.

The AfD calls for a special state program to help cities and towns pay for barrier-free infrastructure. The money would come from budget items the party wants to cut, which were previously earmarked for people with no prospect of staying in Germany.

Many bus and train stops in Hesse are hard to use for people with disabilities. The AfD wants to change that. The state should give towns money for this. The money should come from other spending. That spending was planned for foreigners who are not likely to stay.

The CDU wants to recruit a total of 10,000 additional early childhood educators for Hesse by 2028. To do so, the ongoing skilled-staff campaign is to be continued and stepped up together with municipalities.

Hesse needs more daycare teachers. The CDU wants to gain 10,000 new ones by 2028. Training should become easier and more attractive. Skilled workers from abroad should come too.

The CDU wants job centers to once again give priority to placing people in work or training. To that end, it plans to push at the federal level for a change to the Social Code.

The CDU wants job centers to get people into work first. That should again be their main task. A federal law must change for this. The CDU wants to push for that at the federal level.

The CDU wants working hours to take families' needs into account more and to allow more digital, location-independent work. Rigid rules are to give way to more flexible models such as family time accounts.

The CDU wants more flexible working hours. Parents should have more time for their children. They should be able to leave early on some days. They then work longer on other days. Working from home should also become easier.

The CDU wants to combine the state's social policy measures in a future fund and increase it to 150 million euros. It also wants to support the founding of social cooperatives and provide reliable backing for multigenerational centers.

The CDU wants to spend more money on social help. There will be a fund of 150 million euros. Clubs and charities can then plan safely. Social cooperatives should also get money. These are groups of citizens who offer social help together.

The CDU wants to launch a state program against child poverty if the federal government fails to act, with a Hessisches Familiengeld (Hessian family allowance) at its core. It sees work as the best protection against poverty; jobless parents are to be helped into employment. Food banks are to receive higher funding permanently.

The CDU wants to fight poverty. Children especially should not be poor. It wants to bring in a family payment in Hesse. Parents without work should get help finding a job. Food banks should keep getting money.

The CDU wants to improve the situation of people with disabilities and expand accessibility. The action plan for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to be reissued. Inclusion should follow individual needs, which for the CDU includes special-needs schools.

The CDU wants to support people with disabilities better. State buildings should be free of barriers. Public offices should be easy for everyone to use. Special-needs schools should stay. There should be more sign language interpreters.

The CDU wants to expand the "Aktion Generation" funding program so that municipalities can make everyday life more senior-friendly. It also plans a Grandparents' Day, an "Innovation Prize 60 Plus," and more opportunities for volunteering, education and media skills in old age.

The CDU wants to do more for older people. Towns and villages should get money for senior-friendly projects. There should be a Grandparents' Day. Older people should find it easier to volunteer and to study. They should also get help with using the internet.

The FDP wants to tackle the staff shortage in daycare with paid training, more dual training and higher starting salaries. This is also meant to attract more men to the job.

Daycare centers lack staff. The FDP wants all trainees to get paid. Starting pay should be higher. This should bring more people into the job, including more men.

The FDP wants to introduce mandatory arbitration procedures for strikes in aviation. It argues that labor disputes by small groups can bring large parts of air traffic to a halt. The right to strike would remain in place in principle.

Sometimes small groups go on strike at the airport. Then many flights are canceled. The FDP wants fixed rules for this. Both sides would first have to negotiate with a mediator. The right to strike would stay.

The FDP wants to promote new forms of housing for older people, such as shared living groups, multigenerational housing and cooperatives, and create regular public funding for them. Seniors should also find it easier to volunteer and take part in politics.

Older people should be able to live independently for a long time. The FDP wants to support new ways of living, such as shared homes. The state should help pay for planning and building. Seniors should also be able to take part more, as volunteers and in politics.

The FDP wants to support companies that join forces in training alliances and rejects a training-place levy, which in its view only burdens small and midsize businesses. For young refugees, the InteA classes should be open up to an entry age of 25.

The FDP wants to strengthen job training in companies and vocational schools. Small companies should be able to train young people together. The FDP rejects a fee for companies without trainees. Young refugees should be allowed into special classes for longer. There they learn German and get a school certificate.

The FDP wants to loosen the Working Hours Act so that employees can interrupt their workday for family time. Remote work should become normal through collective agreements, and extra vacation days should be freely negotiable with the employer.

The FDP wants more flexible rules for working hours. Parents should be able to pause work during the day for family. Working from home should become normal. Workers should be allowed to negotiate more vacation days with their boss.

The FDP wants to give people with disabilities as much independence as possible and relies on individual solutions such as the personal budget, which is to be offered statewide. Accessibility is to be expanded, and deafblind people are to receive a higher allowance for the blind.

People with disabilities should be able to live as independently as possible. They should choose what help they get. The personal budget is a tool for this. The FDP wants more accessibility. Deafblind people should get more money.

The FDP wants the Landeswohlfahrtsverband (LWV, State Welfare Association) to be the sole supra-regional body responsible for integration assistance in Hesse. In the party's view, only the LWV ensures comparable quality and oversight statewide; its special-needs schools are to be kept and developed further.

The State Welfare Association helps people with disabilities in Hesse. The FDP wants it alone to keep this job for the whole state. This should make help equally good everywhere. Its special schools should stay.

The FDP wants more flexible rules for working-time models and, through the Bundesrat, simpler occupational safety requirements for home-office workplaces. This is meant to cut commuting and ease pressure to move from rural areas to cities.

The FDP wants freer rules for working hours. There should be fewer rules for working from home. Hesse should push for this in the Bundesrat, the chamber of the states. Then fewer people need to commute. And more people can stay in the countryside.

The FDP wants to give state employees a legal right to remote work. New office concepts would go along with this so that the state remains an attractive employer.

People who work for the state of Hesse should be allowed to work remotely. The FDP wants a firm right to this. Offices should become more open and flexible. This should keep the state a good employer.

The Greens consider full employment an achievable goal because climate action and innovation create new jobs. People who lose their jobs through economic change are to get new prospects. State programs are to support businesses and fund further training.

The Greens want everyone to have work. Climate action should bring many new jobs. But some jobs will go away. These people should get new chances. The state should help pay for training.

The Greens want to tackle the shortage of skilled and other workers through training and immigration. A central "welcome center" is to handle recognition of qualifications, residence issues and integration for foreign workers in one place.

Hesse does not have enough workers. The Greens want to offer more job training. They also want to attract workers from other countries. One central office should help these people quickly.

The Greens want to develop Hesse's public procurement and collective wage compliance law so that public contracts go to firms that follow the rules and more workers are covered by collective agreements. Social and environmental criteria are to carry more weight in procurement.

The state gives contracts to companies. The Greens want these companies to pay fairly. Social and environmental rules should count too. Work should also become healthier.

The Greens want to develop the existing reduced-fare ticket "Hessenpass mobil" into a social pass for Hesse. It is to make social and cultural participation easier.

People with little money can ride buses and trains for less in Hesse. This is the Hessenpass mobil. The Greens want to turn it into a social pass. It should also make culture and leisure cheaper.

The Greens want to raise Hesse's social budget by half to at least 200 million euros a year. The money is meant to fund social projects permanently, adjust grants to higher costs, and create new services.

Hesse pays for social projects. These include women's shelters and debt advice. The Greens want to raise this money a lot. It should be at least 200 million euros a year.

The Greens want to draw up an action plan against poverty and expand the state social report to cover wealth and concrete measures. Homelessness is to be decriminalized and tackled with Housing First, meaning a home of one's own as the first step of support.

Many people in Hesse live in poverty. The Greens want a plan against it. People without a home should get a home first. This is called Housing First. Homeless people should not be punished.

The Greens want to press the federal government for a scientifically monitored pilot project on unconditional basic income. It would study the effects on job searches, civic engagement, and participation in society.

A basic income is money from the state for everyone, with no conditions. The Greens want this tested in a trial. Researchers should study the effects. The federal government should run the trial.

The Greens want public infrastructure to better reflect the needs of older people. The aim is for people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

There are more and more older people. The Greens want them to live at home for a long time. There should be help at home. Doctors and stores should be nearby.

The Greens want people with disabilities to live independently and without barriers and to be involved in decisions from the start. Accessibility is to be checked more effectively and the path into the regular labor market made easier.

The Greens want fewer obstacles for people with disabilities. Buildings and streets should be usable for everyone. People with disabilities should be able to find regular jobs. They should have a say in decisions.

The Greens want to write the Code for Good Work into the Higher Education Act and push back chains of fixed-term contracts. First contracts for doctoral candidates are to run four years instead of three, and student assistants are to be covered by the state's collective wage agreement.

The Greens want better jobs at universities. Doctoral candidates should get first contracts of 4 years. Today it is 3 years. There should be fewer short contracts in a row. Student assistants should be paid under the wage agreement.

The Greens want to keep adjusting civil-servant pay to court rulings and carry collective bargaining results over to civil servants. They want to reduce the disadvantage for civil servants voluntarily insured in the public health system and will examine a flat-rate subsidy for this. Staff councils are to get more say.

Civil servants work for the state. The Greens want them to be paid fairly. Pay raises from union agreements should also apply to civil servants. Civil servants in public health insurance should no longer be worse off. Staff councils should have more say.

The Greens want to make it easier for skilled workers from the EU to enter Hesse's labor market and to simplify recognition of their vocational qualifications. Posted workers are to receive more counseling to defend themselves against poor working conditions.

Skilled workers from other EU countries should find it easier to work in Hesse. Their job qualifications should be accepted more easily. Some companies send workers from abroad to Hesse. These people should get more advice. This should protect them from being exploited.

The SPD wants to amend Hesse's Tariftreue- und Vergabegesetz (law on collective-wage compliance in public procurement) and introduce a separate minimum wage for public contracts. Public contracts and business subsidies would be tied more closely to collective bargaining coverage and worker co-determination. The program argues that the state has a special responsibility as a buyer.

The SPD wants to change the law on public contracts. Companies that work for the state should pay union-agreed wages. There should be a special minimum wage for these contracts. The state should check the rules more closely. Companies with good working conditions should get extra support money.

The SPD wants to make Hesse the leading German state for continuing education. Workers should be able to gain new qualifications while employed, and the party backs a legal entitlement to this. The program justifies this with the rapid change in job profiles.

The world of work is changing fast. So the SPD wants to support more job training. People should get a right to further training. Hesse should become the best state for this.

The SPD wants to strengthen Bildungsurlaub (paid educational leave) in Hesse and develop it into a "Bildungszeit" with a legal entitlement for everyone. More people should use it, including for job qualification as the world of work changes. Political education is to be strengthened as well.

Workers can take time off for training. This is called educational leave. The SPD wants to expand it. Everyone should have a right to it. More people should use this offer.

The SPD wants to create a vocational training guarantee financed by a levy. A Hesse training fund is meant mainly to support young people up to age 35 and to relieve small companies that train apprentices. A state program called "Jugend in Arbeit" and more youth employment agencies are also planned.

The SPD wants a training guarantee. Everyone should be able to do job training. Companies pay into a shared fund for this. Small companies that train people get help from the fund. Young people get more advice when they start working.

The SPD wants to stop funding social services in Hesse mainly through short-term projects and instead rely on statutory rules and a redesigned social budget. Municipalities are to receive the money they need for this. The program says this is how comparable living conditions can be achieved across the state.

The SPD wants to pay for social services in a lasting way. Today, many services are short projects. In the future, laws should secure them. Cities and towns should get more money for this.

The SPD wants to halve poverty in Hesse within five years, working with the federal government and municipalities. It plans an action plan spanning all ministries that focuses on prevention. The program points out that the poverty rate in Hesse is above the national average.

The SPD wants to cut poverty in Hesse in half. This should happen within five years. There will be a plan against poverty. All ministries should work on it.

The SPD wants to promote the self-determination and social participation of older people and counter loneliness in old age. Senior citizens' councils are to be required by law so that every municipality has one. The plan also includes support for mobility, age-appropriate housing and digital services.

The SPD wants older people to have more of a say. Every town should get a seniors' council. This is a group that speaks for older people. There should also be help against loneliness in old age.

The SPD wants to pay public-sector employees better and give them more opportunities to advance. Hesse is to rejoin the joint wage bargaining association of the German states. A new staff representation law is to expand employees' say.

The SPD wants to pay government workers better. Today Hesse negotiates wages on its own. In the future Hesse should negotiate together with the other states again. Workers should also have more say at work.