Social cuts | Temporary jobs: fight against unprotected work!

“Deadline is frustration” is written on a suitcase at an event held by members of the Verdi and GEW unions. Photo: dpa/Frank Rumpenhorst Since May 2026, “The Left” has been mobilizing for protests against social cuts. Demonstrations were also carried out by the trade unions, especially by “Verdi”. The DGB is now calling for protests in 15 major cities on September 26th.

The left calls for a stop to all deterioration and real reforms in the interests of the people. In order to better finance the welfare state, higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires are necessary, especially through the wealth tax.

Michael Schlecht is a founding member of WASG and Die Linke. After 30 years of various full-time positions as union secretary for IG Druck und Papier and Verdi, he was elected to the Bundestag in 2009. He left in 2017 and was most recently the economic and trade union policy spokesman for the Left parliamentary group.

Among other things, the government is planning to further extend the fixed-term employment contract to four years in the fall. This brings the existing deteriorations caused by Agenda 2010 20 years ago into focus. These included, above all, the expansion of fixed-term employment contracts, the deterioration in temporary work and bogus self-employment. A year after the Agenda laws, SPD Chancellor Schröder boasted that the largest low-wage sector in Europe had been introduced. With the politically fought minimum wage and the ongoing increases, the situation has improved slightly since then. However, today around 15 percent of employees are still affected by such lousy and unsafe working conditions. 40 percent of young people up to the age of 25 can only find a temporary job!

All people who have to work under temporary and therefore unprotected conditions lead a life of insecurity. Planning for the future is virtually impossible. There is no longer a secure perspective. For some, this means a recurring probationary period until retirement!

And for the people who are still in secure, permanent and permanent employment, these unsecured jobs act like a disciplinary whip: "Who knows whether I won't also be forced to do an unprotected job?" And when it comes to representing their interests in the company, becoming a member of a union, running for the works council or even following a call for a strike, then the bravest and angriest are not deterred by the boss's rejection of them looks at. But those who don't have such good nerves - and they are often the majority - tend to quickly withdraw. The result is always the same: the collective fighting power is weakened and the capital side can expand its territory.

Collective bargaining autonomy and the right to strike are protected by the Basic Law in Germany. However, collective bargaining and enforcement conditions for successful collective agreements have deteriorated significantly in recent decades. With the deregulation of the labor market, which began as early as 1985, and in particular with the subsequent agenda politics, trade union conditions for action were massively damaged. This will now be continued with the extension of the fixed-term period to four years.

How many of the people affected then vote for a completely absurd party in their desperation? The fight for secure and humane working conditions is also a central component of an anti-fascist economic policy. In principle, every employee must be able to claim a permanent job, temporary work must be reduced, and the many perfidious and anti-social forms of bogus self-employment must be banned.

When we set out to found the WASG in 2004 and then “The Left” in 2007, this context was a central founding motive. We wanted to create a party that would improve the political framework for union work, strikes and good wage agreements. If you look at the political practice of the left today, this has been largely forgotten. The left must do everything in its power to change the political framework for this degrading reality of life. It is high time to make this a second major action and campaign issue alongside housing and rent policy.

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