Many restaurateurs complain about a lack of staff. And the authorities repeatedly withdraw their work permits from good employees with a migration background. A new example from Tutzing.
Tutzing - In the "Tutzinger Hof" an important worker is missing. Fikerte Kasahun, who came from Ethiopia, had worked well at the inn. Now the responsible immigration office in the Weilheim-Schongau district office has refused her work permit. Local politicians are trying to help.
The situation is not new for the Tutzinger Gasthof. Two years ago, its operators had an employee from the Congo, Etienne Sebineza. He received a work permit from the Weilheim district office and was then sent to the immigration office in Munich - which immediately invalidated his ID. With that, the work permit was also lost.
Fikerte Kasahun (32) had no ID in her home country, Ethiopia. In 2015 she fled to South Africa and got an ID there. Finally she came to Germany. Her asylum application was rejected and she was tolerated. The tolerance is only valid for a few months, each time she hopes for an extension. She learned German, did various jobs, for example in a hospital and in a temporary employment agency, through which she was employed in Tutzing's elementary and middle school. In February she arrived at the “Tutzinger Hof”, initially as a cleaning lady. She quickly worked her way into other tasks and got a permanent position. Rolf Läkamp, partner of owner Petra Gsinn, pulled out all the stops to make all of this possible. "She is always on time, always reliable, always hard-working, always honest," he enthuses. Gsinn is also enthusiastic: "You could tell she enjoyed her work."
But the passport is still missing. Kasahun had hoped to get papers from the Ethiopian embassy in Frankfurt. She thought everything was sorted out, she just had to pick up her passport. But no: apparently he hadn't arrived. She returned to Bavaria disappointed. She is afraid that she will be deported. Her work permit was revoked.
There is support from local politics. SPD local chief Werner Hensel turned to Mayor Marlene Greinwald with the request to lobby the Weilheim district office for a right of residence for the service staff. Greinwald, who is just starting her vacation, has handed the matter over to Vice Mayor Elisabeth Dörrenberg. The municipality is not responsible. But the town hall chief makes it clear that she is happy to support the reception of such people. Citizens should also set signals, she says, that people in the region could find shelter. In the local council, Greinwald wants to get Tutzing to participate in the movement “Seebrücke”, with which numerous municipalities act as “safe havens” to offer people rescued from distress at sea protection and reception.
For Hensel, the decision of the immigration authorities is a "poorly thought-out official measure". The local SPD chief refers emphatically to a statement by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil: Sometimes he has the feeling that the wrong people have to leave Germany. For the "Tutzinger Hof" as for other hotels, it is very difficult to find staff with an unemployment rate of around three percent.
It is a case of hardship in several ways, said Hensel. The commercial enterprise, already badly hit by the Corona crisis, is losing an urgently needed employee. Especially now in the vacation time, this measure of the district office is incomprehensible and even threatening the existence. The woman is no longer allowed to work, earn no money, no longer pay rent: "The state is doing that again." to tap the companies ”. "But these are people who are willing to work and integrate," warns Hensel: "Skimming off noticeable asylum seekers is unlikely to be so successful." The Weilheim district office has not yet issued a statement on the case.
Lorenz Goslich
