What do the parties in Rhineland-Palatinate say on work and social affairs?

The AfD wants to raise the Landesblindengeld (state allowance for blind people) from €410 to at least €600 and index it to inflation. It argues that the amount has not been adjusted since 2003. A separate allowance for deafblind people is also to be introduced.

Blind people get money from the state. Today it is 410 euros. The AfD wants to pay at least 600 euros. The amount should rise with prices. People who are both blind and deaf should get their own allowance.

The AfD wants to allow the state audit office to inspect state-funded workshops for people with disabilities without needing a specific reason. This is meant to ensure that the money reaches the people being cared for.

The state gives money to workshops for people with disabilities. The audit office should be allowed to check these workshops at any time. The audit office checks how state money is spent. The AfD says this makes sure the money reaches the people.

The AfD wants the Berufsgenossenschaften (employers' liability insurance associations) to stop choosing their own medical assessors. Instead, assessors are to be assigned by lottery. This is meant to make them independent and strengthen people affected by workplace accidents and occupational diseases.

Some people get sick because of their work. Then an expert checks the case. Today the insurance association picks the expert. The AfD wants a lottery to pick the expert. This should make experts independent.

The CDU wants to give priority to the skilled trades, strengthen the master craftsman requirement and upgrade dual vocational training. It rejects state rules on collective bargaining coverage that go beyond federal law and relies on the autonomy of employers and unions.

The CDU wants to support the skilled trades. The master craftsman rule should become stronger. The state should not make its own rules on wage agreements. Employers and unions should settle this themselves.

The CDU wants to address the shortage of skilled workers in three ways: better training, more employment among parents and older people, and faster entry into work for qualified immigrants. The program cites thousands of unfilled jobs in the state as the reason.

The state lacks many skilled workers. The CDU wants better job training. Parents and older people should find it easier to work. Skilled workers from abroad should be able to start work faster.

The Greens want employees to choose more freely what full-time means for them, between 30 and 40 hours a week. They also want to promote the four-day week and create a right to paid caregiving leave so that work, family, care and volunteering fit together better.

The Greens want more flexible working hours. Workers should be able to choose between 30 and 40 hours a week. People who care for relatives should get paid during that time. This leaves more time for family and volunteering.

The Greens want to bring more people into work who currently have weaker chances on the labor market, and to expand existing state programs for that purpose. In the public sector, they want a modernized civil service law and a flat-rate health subsidy for civil servants.

There are not enough skilled workers. The Greens want to bring more people into jobs. Programs for jobless people and for women should grow. Civil servants should be freer to choose their health insurance.

The Greens want a fundamental reform of the state's Landestariftreuegesetz (collective-wage compliance law) so that public contracts go only to companies that honor collective agreements. Workplace safety is also to be expanded with more inspection staff.

The state gives many contracts to companies. The Greens want this: only companies that pay agreed union wages get contracts. There should also be more checks for safe workplaces.

The Greens want to support people in poverty with more counseling, municipal social passes and a statewide subsidized transit ticket for benefit recipients. The platform rejects sanctions, which in its view exclude people from society.

The Greens want to help poor people. There should be more advice for people with debts. Poor people should get a cheap ticket for buses and trains. People without health insurance should also get help.

The Greens want to expand programs against loneliness for older people and build new ones for young people. The platform sees loneliness as a risk to health, social cohesion and trust in democracy.

Many people feel lonely. That can make them sick. The Greens want more projects for old and young people. There should be more places to meet, also in the countryside.

The Greens want more people with disabilities employed in the regular labor market and in the state civil service. Work in sheltered workshops should be the exception and be better paid.

People with disabilities should find regular jobs more easily. The state itself should hire more of them. In sheltered workshops they should earn more money. Companies only get state contracts if they employ enough people with disabilities.

The Greens want to continue and expand the "Housing First" approach in Rhineland-Palatinate. Under it, homeless people first get a home of their own and then further support. Drop-in cafés are to be funded as well.

Some people have no home. With "Housing First" they get a home first. After that they get more help. The Greens want to make this program bigger. They also want to fund cafés for homeless people.

The SPD stands by the statutory minimum wage and wants to develop it further. Mini-jobs (low-paid marginal jobs) are to become much less common and be converted into regular jobs with social insurance where possible. It also wants to keep helping the unemployed, especially the long-term unemployed, into work.

The SPD wants fair wages. The minimum wage should stay and keep developing. There should be fewer mini-jobs. Mini-jobs should turn into regular jobs with social insurance. People without work should get help finding a job.

The SPD wants public contracts and subsidies to go, as a rule, only to companies that comply with collective bargaining agreements. To that end, the state's Tariftreuegesetz (law on compliance with collective agreements) is to be revised in order to raise collective bargaining coverage.

A collective agreement sets pay and working conditions. The SPD wants more companies to pay by such agreements. Only those companies should get government contracts. The same should apply to public subsidies. The SPD wants to change a state law for this.

The SPD wants to modernize the law governing works councils and broaden their rights, including over the use of artificial intelligence. Obstructing works council activity is to be prosecuted more consistently. In the party's view, strong unions and works councils are needed to shape change in the world of work.

A works council speaks for the employees in a company. The SPD wants to give it more rights. It should also have a say when AI is used. Anyone who obstructs a works council should be punished. Special prosecutors should handle these cases.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for a crisis version of Kurzarbeitergeld (short-time work allowance) lasting 24 months and anchored in law. It is meant to protect jobs during periods of economic upheaval and be tied to mandatory training.

In short-time work, employees work less and the state pays part of their wage. The SPD wants a special short-time allowance for crises. It should be paid for 24 months. During that time, employees should learn new skills.

The SPD wants to keep developing the state's skilled-worker strategy and adapt it to labor market needs. Small and medium-sized companies are to get help drawing up their own strategies, and advisory services are to be pooled in one central service office.

Many jobs lack skilled workers. The SPD wants to improve the state's plan against this. Small companies should get help. One central office should bring all advice together.

The SPD wants to launch a continuing-education drive together with companies, unions and training providers. At the federal level it calls for a right to further training and a broader Qualifizierungsgeld (training allowance) so that support starts earlier.

The SPD wants people to be able to learn all their lives. There should be a big push for further training. At the federal level there should be a right to further training. The employment agency should be able to pay for courses earlier.

The SPD wants to expand the Transformationsagentur Rheinland-Pfalz (state transformation agency) as a contact point for companies and employees, especially on the use of artificial intelligence. A state initiative is to help workers without a vocational qualification obtain one later.

The world of work is changing a lot. A state agency should advise companies and workers on this. This applies especially to artificial intelligence. People without a job qualification should be able to get one later.

The SPD commits to a strong welfare state and also wants social administration to work faster and more simply. It also wants to find ways to give municipalities lasting relief on social spending.

The SPD wants a strong welfare state. It should help people who are sick, poor, or out of work. Offices should work faster and more simply. Cities and towns should carry fewer costs.

The SPD wants to strengthen the network of counseling services in villages and neighborhoods and secure its funding. Contact points are to offer different kinds of help in one place, because several problems often come together in a crisis.

The SPD wants to strengthen counseling in villages and neighborhoods. People get help there with debt, addiction, or care. Different kinds of help should be in one place. Applying for help should get easier.

The SPD wants to double the number of professionals in the state program Gemeindeschwesterplus. The program offers older people preventive home visits so they can live independently at home for a long time. Seniors' participation and civic engagement are also to be supported.

Trained staff visit older people at home and give advice. The program is called Gemeindeschwesterplus. The SPD wants to hire twice as many staff for it. Older people should be able to live at home for a long time.

The SPD wants to preserve and support meeting places in villages, towns and neighborhoods because, in its view, loneliness is growing across all age groups. An action plan against loneliness is to be carried out and a funding program for volunteering continued.

Many people feel lonely. So the SPD wants to support meeting places in villages and cities. People should be able to meet there without spending money. A plan against loneliness should help. Older people get help with using the internet.

The SPD wants to remove barriers in all areas of life and create a state competence center for accessibility. The 2021 state inclusion law is to be implemented further, and the state action plan on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reviewed and updated together with those affected.

The SPD wants to remove obstacles for people with disabilities. A new state advice center should help with this. It advises towns, public offices and companies. Public offices should offer more texts in plain language. Public buildings should be open to everyone.

The SPD wants more people with disabilities to work in the regular labor market. To that end, the Budget für Arbeit (a wage subsidy for employers) is to be expanded, more inclusive companies created and the integration services strengthened.

People with disabilities should find regular jobs more easily. The SPD wants to give more support for this. There should be more inclusive companies. These are firms where people with and without disabilities work together. Special services help young people start their working life.

The SPD wants to prevent and overcome poverty and sees work as the main route out of it. It relies on training, debt counseling, local prevention offices and an expansion of programs against child and youth poverty.

The SPD wants nobody to live in poverty. Work should protect people from being poor. So there is help with training and finding a job. People in debt get advice. Children from poor families should get more support. Young people should learn to handle money well.