As of: March 7, 2024, 5:27 a.m
By: Carina Ottillinger
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“Work provides daily structure,” says District Administrator Christoph Göbel.
This could be particularly helpful in container accommodation like here near Neubiberg.
© Laura Forster
The 80-cent jobs for asylum seekers are also controversial in the Munich district.
Some see them as lethargy relievers, others see them as discrimination.
District – mopping stairwells, cleaning living rooms, cleaning garbage disposals.
In the future, asylum seekers will be able to do all of this in the Garching collective accommodation – for 80 cents an hour.
The Asylum Helpers Group works with a facility manager.
“We want to revive relief work,” says chairwoman Nicola Gerhardt.
“For me, this is not enslavement.” Not all helper groups in the district see it that way.
There is great discussion about part-time employment for refugees.
The Asylum Seekers Benefits Act allows refugees to work four hours a day.
This includes community work such as cleaning streets, trimming hedges, cleaning accommodation and club work.
Activities are limited to a maximum of 20 hours per week.
The minimum wage is 80 cents per hour.
That's 64 euros per month.
In the district, refugees have so far been responsible for cleaning in shared accommodation.
In February 2024, 19 asylum seekers were employed in such work opportunities, the district office said.
“Work provides daily structure”
For District Administrator Christoph Göbel, work is one of the “most important integration factors”.
“Work provides structure for the day, supports learning the German language and brings people into contact with each other.” In the best case, charitable work opens the door to a regular job.
“Supporting refugees to stand on their own two feet and at the same time relieving the burden on the welfare state is our primary goal,” says Göbel.
The district has had good experiences with charitable work on a voluntary basis in the accommodations.
The district administrator is against a general obligation.
“I am optimistic that if the municipalities provide additional job opportunities, we will find people who are interested, without having to put pressure on them.” The majority of refugees want to work.
In Garching, the group of helpers has had good experiences with the 80-cent jobs.
“The work was in demand because the asylum seekers were allowed to keep the money,” says Gerhardt.
The helpers provided cleaning materials, checked the cleaning and regulated the remuneration.
At some point the group of helpers could no longer manage the administration.
A property manager has been looking after the accommodation since February.
Circle of helpers: The effort is too great
Contrary to some criticism, Gerhardt is in favor of low-paid work.
The pay is similar to the one-euro jobs for citizens' benefit recipients.
“We don't want to enslave people, but we have to motivate them to work.” If refugees sat in the accommodation for too long, they would fall into lethargy.
People need an everyday rhythm that has a positive effect on interaction.
“We can demand more from these people,” says the chairwoman.
“It’s a small return for the social benefits they receive.”
Heidi Maurer, spokeswoman for the Hohenbrunn-Ottobrunn Asylum Helpers Group, has an opposite opinion.
Asylum seekers are housed in decentralized residential buildings in the communities.
Bricklayers are not aware of any 80-cent jobs: “This is not possible for us because the administrative effort is too high.
That would be a burden instead of a relief.” Instead, the group of helpers encourages refugees to volunteer in clubs.
“You don’t need 80-cent jobs to activate people,” Maurer contradicts her colleague from Garching.
She is against commitment.
“We in the helper group look at individual cases.” Mothers take part in school festivals.
Interpreters help with the integration of compatriots.
Not worried about the jobs
Karin Lange, coordinator in the Unterföhring helper group, is also divided about the marginal employment relationship.
“I find the 80-cent jobs discriminatory and degrading.” The coordinator sees the initiative.
“The motivation is definitely there.” German courses are more important so that refugees can soon start in the job market.
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Before Corona, there were 80-cent jobs in the Unterföhringen accommodations.
“People didn’t fight for these jobs,” says Lange, who represents a different perception than in the neighboring municipality of Garching.
Only one woman agreed to do so after the pandemic.
But the group of helpers and the authorities could not come to an agreement.
“The district office said the whole thing wasn’t worth it.” The project fell asleep.
Lange currently distributes cleaning services to one of the accommodations every week.
Unlike Lange and Maurer, Gerhardt calls for another aspect that the district also wants to address: working for public providers.
She tells about an asylum seeker from Afghanistan.
40 years old, no school education, no knowledge of German.
For him, a job in gardening would be perfect because he would have a daily routine and would come into contact with the German language.
Gerhardt stands by: “People have to get out of their inactivity mode.”
Further news from the Munich district can be found here.