German court provides legal stamp for hard labour

[Joanne98]

By Dietmar Henning
20 December 2008

The highest German social court delivered a judgement on December 16 that exposes the real aim of the introduction of "one euro-jobs" by Germany's former Social Democratic Party (SPD)-Green Party government: to impose state-sponsored hard labour, break opposition to such measures by the unemployed, and thereby replace reasonably paid full-time jobs with a massive low-wage sector.

The 4th Senate of the Federal Social Court (BSG) in Kassel ruled on Tuesday that the unemployed must accept a one euro-job even if it involves a working week of up to 30 hours. The judgement overturns a number of regulations that until recently prevented such forms of cheap labour. Factors such as the qualifications of the unemployed person, the type of job offered, and the reimbursement involved no longer play a role.

The issue of one-euro jobs was raised by a 58-year-old engineer who had been unemployed since 2001. In August 2005 he was ordered by his local employment office to begin work as an assistant gardener for a local authority for a wage of €1.50 per hour. Between August and December he was required to work a 30-hour week covering trees with plastic.

The engineer told Spiegel-Online that his initial reaction was to turn down the job. He argued that a 30-hour week in a one-euro job would not leave him enough time to find a full-time position.

He also maintained that he was physically incapable of working full-time as an assistant gardener and that he had already accepted an alternative offer involving less hours at the time the employment office ordered he begin the 30-hour job.

The engineer's arguments were all summarily dismissed by the employment office, which recommended that he be punished with a 30 percent decrease in his Hartz IV unemployment benefit for a period of three months. This meant he received a monthly allowance of just €241.50. The full level of Hartz IV unemployment benefits is €345 euro—a sum that is in itself inadequate for subsistence.

The engineer appealed against the judgement and now the social court has delivered its verdict, rejecting his appeal. The ruling means that an unemployed person with outstanding credentials must be prepared to perform the most menial types of work for up to 30 hours a week for one euro an hour—or otherwise be punished by deductions taken from his or her already miserly social insurance payments.

This judgement, which wipes out the rights of the unemployed, represents a fundamental attack on the entire working class. At the same time, the judgement is consistent with the new law governing unemployment benefits introduced in 2005 by the SPD-Green Party government headed by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD). The aim of the law was to force the unemployed to accept any and every form of work, irrespective of how low the pay, and thereby exert downward pressure on the wages of full-time workers.

Continued>>>
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/germ-d20.shtml

[acmavm]

1. Corporatists need to be strung up by the genitals...

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The aim of the law was to force the unemployed to accept any and every form of work, irrespective of how low the pay, and thereby exert downward pressure on the wages of full-time workers.

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[Joanne98]

2. I second that.