International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA)

1. International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA) 5th African Regional Congress, Cape Town Workshop 3, Thursday, 27th March, 2008 Decent work and employment promotion: The German experience by Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse, Lutheran University of Applied Sciences, Nuernberg (Germany)

2. DecentEmployment Work Promotion A question dealt with in Labour Law andto a certainextent in constitutionallaw The Actors: • Employer – Employee • Partners ofcollectivebargaining A fieldofsociallaw: • Socialinsurance • Socialassistance The Actors: • Socialinsurance Agency – insuredperson • Socialassistanceagency – beneficiary • Employingentity Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

3. Decent Work • Seemingly it is only a question that becomes relevant in labour law • Thus, it would require an employment relationship under labour law rules • In the absence of extensive minimum standards in German legislation, it falls to the partners of collective bargaining to provide for decent working conditions Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

4. Employment Promotion • Takes place under • social insurance rules • Financed by contributions of employers and employees • Insured risk, no means-test as well as • under social assistance rules • Financed by taxes from general revenue • Means-tested Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

5. Employment Promotion undersocialinsurance • Under social insurance it consists (among other things) of subsidies (to employers, employees) or of real employment relationships between a (mostly) public „carrier“ and the unemployed person that becomes employed there. • If there is such an employment relationship it also replaces the unemployment insurance benefit Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

6. Employment PromotionUndersocial Assistance • Under social assistance completely different rules apply: • You only get into the system if you are needy. Thus, not everyone whose unemployment insurance benefit has run out (which is mostly the case after 12 months) is entering the means-tested system under Social Code, Book II. • If you are in the system and don‘t work you‘ll get 347 Euro for the daily costs of living and an extra housing subsidy (for a single person in a big city about 300 Euro) and, of course, health care like normally insured people. Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

7. Employment PromotionUndersocial Assistance • If you are working under the rule of s. 16 par 3 SGB II you get a payment that the law calls „expense allowance“. And the work is called „opportunity to work“. • It is stressed in s. 16 par 3 sentence 2 SGB II, that „these works don‘t form an employment relationship under the rules of labour law“. • The extra payment – expense allowance – does not come from the employing entity. It only comes from the social assistance agency. • Normally, an amount between 1 and 2 Euros per working hour is paid. • Some rules like on holidays or safety in the workplace do apply as if to an employment relationship Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

8. Employment PromotionUndersocial Assistance • Work under s. 16 par 3 SGB II has to be • „additional“, which means that without the promoting measure the work would not be carried out at all or not to that extent or only much later (like more than two years later) • „of public interest“, which means that the result of the work that is done has to be „useful for the general public“ Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse

9. It‘s all about Labour Market integration Therefore… • … • German private enterprises (employers) suggestedpaying a feeof 3 to 4 Euro per hourstosocialassistance in order togetworkersfromthescheme • otheremployerswhodon‘tgetsubsidieshavealreadystatedthat such measuresonlydestroyemployment in the „firstlabourmarket“ • An ambulanceservicefiredtheirwholestaffandreplaceditby 1-Euro-Workers; but theywentdirectlytothelabourcourtandarenowpaid „normal wages“ accordingtotheapplicablecollectiveagreement Att. Prof. Dr. Juergen Kruse Letus talk aboutit! ThankYouforlistening