The labor experts in Berlin’s House of Representatives will again deal with Ukrainian war refugees on Thursday. The left wants to discuss in the working committee to what extent “bureaucratic hurdles” can be removed and Ukrainians can be more easily placed in suitable jobs. For example, qualifications of Ukrainian nurses are to be recognized more quickly by the responsible state office for health and social affairs (Lageso), which could necessitate amended regulations.
“In order to have the professional qualification as a nurse recognized by the Lageso, the waiting time for the first decision alone is between six months and one year. After that, there is one more course to complete. But clinics and homes often don’t have time for that. This is dramatic because the shortage of skilled workers is high,” said Damiano Valgolio, the left-wing faction’s labor market expert. “It has to go faster in Lageso, so more training places and a right to participate have to be created. That must also apply to refugees from other countries.”
In addition, de facto none of these adaptation courses would be offered for certain jobs: for example for medical-technical assistants and physiotherapists. With a view to the teachers who fled to Berlin – not only from the Ukraine – the left calls for the high language requirements to be lowered in some places.
So far, the highest German level C2 is required to teach at a school. For certain hours – sports and music – according to the left, the requirement profile should be reduced to the second highest level C1. Foreign teachers aged 45 and over should also be able to do without a second subject.
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It was only on Tuesday that the CDU called for a debate on the shortage of teachers: “More than 26,000 hours of teaching in the school year are canceled, in every school there is at least one class with not a single teacher,” said Katharina Günther-Wünsch, spokeswoman for education policy for the Union.
According to left-wing MP Valgolio, the double budget for 2022/23 has been increased in such a way that an additional five million euros can be invested in the labor market integration of refugees. The motion by the left-wing faction on Thursday will also deal with trades that are usually recognized by the relevant chambers. Because there are usually no formally comparable certificates from Ukraine, professional qualifications should be determined more often by means of a practical test.
In principle, the factions in the House of Representatives agree, especially with regard to the Ukrainians in Berlin. The opposition FDP had submitted a motion by its social expert Tobias Bauschke to the House of Representatives: The Senate should support the establishment of an ad hoc nursing school “through a suitable institution” in order to train interested Ukrainians “unbureaucratically, promptly and free of charge” according to German nursing standards. The proposal of the ruling left could now find a majority in parliament with the coalition partners of the SPD and the Greens. Labor senator is the left-wing politician Katja Kipping.
The reason for the current initiative is “change of legal sphere”, which means that since June 1, it is no longer the social welfare offices but the job centers that are responsible for the Ukrainian refugees. According to a federal decision, the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act no longer applies to them, but the more extensive benefits under the Social Security Code. In addition, the job centers have to place the newcomers in work.
