At the end of October, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) wants to present a law for better protection for employees, even in an economic crisis. So short-time working should be connected as possible with further qualification, Heil said in Berlin at the presentation of various reform plans.
He emphasized that the so-called work-of-tomorrow bill should at the same time make the labor market fit for structural change through digitization and new technologies. "We want to make sure that people can make something out of their lives," the minister said.
The proposals are also the results of a month-long dialogue that has led Heil at several events, including with citizens and experts nationwide. For the most part, the proposals go far beyond the coalition agreement with the Union. He could not promise that all proposals would be implemented, said Heil.
The suggestions at a glance:
Employees should pay for personal time accounts . Whether overtime, overtime or unused leave - the employees should be able to pay working time, they have done too much. Spared time should be used for care and support of relatives, for further education or volunteer work. The time-outs should be promoted by the state. Currently, Heil has a legal right to set up a time account check. The accounts are supposed to be managed by the state according to the proposal.
The most concrete of Heil's plan for better protection for employees is even in a looming economic crisis. Among other things, he wants to facilitate the use of short-time allowance. Heil wants to make the labor market fit for structural change through digitization and new technologies. For example, short-time working should be combined with further qualification as far as possible.
Praise gets salvation for the proposed new child benefit . The previous child allowance should be merged with the lesser-distributed child supplement. Low-earning parents should receive support at the subsistence level. For higher incomes, the level of benefits is to be reduced to the previous child allowance. For the Managing Director of the Joint Joint Entity, Ulrich Schneider, it is high time that better help is given to the parents threatened by poverty. Heil wants to do with family minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) to the implementation.
For the recipients of Hartz IV, the impending prospect of having to move out of their home should be eliminated. Heil led an encounter with a single man in Essen, who took care of his disabled son - after the death of his son, he had received a request from the job center to move into a smaller apartment. "We can not allow that kind of thing in this country anymore." His suggestion: The Job Centers should no longer check in the first two years of basic security, if those affected have an inappropriately large apartment.
In addition, Heil proposes to subsidize low-income earners with up to 100 euros per month in social security contributions. In order to strengthen the trade unions , membership fees should in future, for example as special expenses, actually have a tax-reducing effect and no longer be included in the lump sum for an advertising cost of 1000 euros.
That the implementation of these and other ideas should not be easy, was evident in the past few days. The proposals were already on the table before the presentation - also for increased possibilities of mobile working . Salvation Ministry is considering the introduction of a legal entitlement to mobile work for home office, for example. Employer President Ingo Kramer receives nothing from it. He warns against an "interference in entrepreneurial freedom".
