The Greens and the Left have strongly rejected the CDU’s call to raise the earnings limit for mini‑jobs. The news portal T‑Online reports that CDU leading candidate Manuel Hagel from Baden‑Württemberg previously urged an increase of the mini‑job threshold to €1,000, arguing that these jobs are vital for families and low‑income earners. The current earnings ceiling, tied to the minimum wage, is €603.
In a statement to the portal, Pascal Meiser, the labour‑policy spokesperson for the Left faction in the Bundestag, said, “Apparently Mr. Hagel still does not understand the damage mini‑jobs cause”. He added that mini‑jobs provide workers with “no independent social protection in case of illness, unemployment, or old age, and they severely undermine the funding base of our solidarity‑based social insurance system”.
Meiser calls instead for nationwide collective agreements guaranteeing “good working conditions and wages” citing a time when Baden‑Württemberg had championed such measures. “But Mr. Hagel says nothing about that” he added, noting that Hagel appears “rather willing to turn the land of well‑paid skilled workers into a land of precariously employed people”.
The Greens point out contradictions within the Union. “First, the Union’s Mittelstandsverein pushed to severely restrict the right to part‑time work; now Mr. Hagel recognises how important part‑time work is for families. The wage‑earners wing of the Union wants to largely abolish mini‑jobs, yet Mr. Hagel even supports expanding them” explains Armin Grau, the Greens’ spokesperson for labour and social affairs.
Grau concludes that there is “complete chaos in the CDU’s labour and social policy”. He criticises the loss of social‑security contributions caused by mini‑jobs and argues that they are a trap for many: “Anyone who works long‑term in mini‑jobs will find themselves empty‑handed in old age”. He calls for the abolition of mini‑jobs, except for pupils and students.