Polish live-ins: the gray space of the German care system

by Veronika Warzycha

An advert on buses in Germany in 2020 prompted a storm of criticism in Poland and the intervention of diplomats. It confirmed an aged woman accompanied by a youthful lady, each smiling fortunately, with a textual content alongside them saying “Grandma’s new Polish lady” and directing individuals to a service, Procura24, that provides “Japanese European nurses for 24-hour residence care”.

The picture was broadly criticised in Polish and German media, with Poland’s overseas ministry and embassy in Berlin calling for it to be taken down.

However Procura defended the advert, saying it was “an correct illustration of social actuality”. Nonetheless, bus operator Deutsche Bahn disagreed, and determined to take away the adverts as a part of its “dedication to variety”.

The episode highlighted the extent to which Polish ladies have turn out to be synonymous with the care sector in Germany, which urgently wants their labour however typically treats them poorly.

The German Federal Statistical Workplace (Statistisches Bundesamt) suggests there are 4 million households in want of a caregiver in Germany. The bulk are 24-hour caregivers, so-called live-ins.

There are round 300,000 such live-ins from japanese Europe – a lot of them from Poland – working in Germany, estimated staff’ union Ver.di.

However Justyna Oblacewicz of the Honest Mobility advisory community believes that the true determine is about twice as excessive, provided that residence care doesn’t must be registered in Germany, with many caregivers working illicitly.

Honest Mobility, which is supported by the German Commerce Union Confederation (DGB) and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, seeks to construct supporting constructions for staff from Central and Japanese Europe within the German labour market.

Oblacewicz estimates that Polish live-ins in Germany earn on common about €1,300-1,400 euro monthly. Whereas that is “good cash the place they arrive from”, the circumstances they face can typically be exploitative, she says.

Ewa S., a Polish caregiver who has been working in German for seven years, recollects that the one factor she needed to do in her first weeks when she began working was to sleep. She labored round 16 hours per day, day by day. There have been no days off. New job, new nation, new language. “It was a catastrophe,” she recollects. 160 hours however solely €1,000 euro to take residence? Ewa stresses that even when she actually labored simply 40 hours every week the fee would nonetheless be too low by German requirements.

Germany’s care system is a large authorized gray space. Even when working formally, circumstances could be onerous. Even discussing work circumstances is punishable beneath the phrases of employment – beneath a contract that Notes from Poland obtained, the penalty could be €500 – however it additionally offers you an honorary point out within the unofficial “black listing” that can forestall businesses from hiring a caregiver ever once more.

These coming to work as caregivers are principally ladies aged between 55 to 66, says Oblacewicz. Children grown up, in class or college, perhaps divorced or widowed, and in want of cash and a assure of retirement. These ladies determine to go the place the cash is, typically with out understanding German or having obtained an ample education.

Ewa confronted a tough time after her husband died of most cancers, quickly discovering that it isn’t simple for a lady her age to discover a job in Poland. Her sister steered she go to Germany. It appeared simple and well-paid. She shouldn’t be a certified caregiver, however live-ins seldom are. Formally they aren’t allowed to practise any type of medical care.

In response to official info, there are round 600 businesses registered in Germany that match German households with the Polish caregivers supplied by their Polish counterparts. Ewa signed a contract with certainly one of them, however, going through unpaid additional time and dealing circumstances she had not agreed to, determined to breach the contract. She says she was fortunate, because the households she labored for helped her to find out about her rights and confront the company. However not everyone seems to be so lucky.

For a lot of, these contracts are the premise of the exploitation that Polish live-ins face. There’s a time period in Polish that makes all of this potential that doesn’t exist in German: umowa zlecenie – a civil work contract. This contract exists between the Polish company and the caregiver.

Some such agreements are known as “trash contracts” (umowa śmieciowa) as a result of they supply staff with few protections. These contracts give live-ins a standing someplace between self-employed and employed, which leaves them to pay a giant a part of their very own social safety – in addition to the company paying considerably lower than they should – and cuts the company out from a whole lot of accountability relating to employee’s rights.

Furthermore, in accordance with Honest Mobility, the businesses additionally maintain round 50% of the unique fee by the German households. Many caregivers might need issues with the households or working circumstances, however the contract prevents them from getting out of the work, as businesses refuse to pay wages or impose penalties for breaking the contract.

Grassroots Fb teams – corresponding to one with 4,300 members providing free authorized recommendation to Polish caregivers in Germany – witness a unending recreation of “What would you do in my place?” They’re the primary channel for networking and connecting between Polish live-ins, who inherently work in circumstances the place direct contact is tough, Ewa tells us.

For Honest Mobility, the central activity is authorized recommendation and knowledge. Generally they assist with communication with businesses. Nonetheless, in Germany there’s as but little related case-law, so there are not any ensures of success if the ladies determine to take an company to courtroom over an unfair contract.

Most lady quit after they realise the monetary threat of getting to bear the prices of a potential authorized dispute, Oblacewicz admits. They don’t have a few years left to work, so why threat it? There’s enormous insecurity on methods to sort out the authorized difficulty.

Politicians have beforehand proven little curiosity in establishing clearer guidelines and rules. “The politicians is aware of concerning the state of affairs of the live-ins”, says Oblacewicz, “however because of the complexity and the wants of the entire care-system they flip a blind eye.”

Nonetheless, that may now change after final 12 months’s election, since which era Germany has been led by the “site visitors mild” coalition of Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens.

The SPD’s consultant for the Bundestag Committee on Well being, Heike Baehrens, instructed Notes from Poland that her social gathering has “reached an settlement with our coalition companions to put the 24-hour care within the household sector on a legally safe footing”.

Their plans embrace higher assist providers for live-ins, in addition to selling family providers and assist households with a voucher system. The SPD advocates for management and accreditation of businesses, which Baehrens says contains “binding contracts, notification of social safety, compliance with minimal labour requirements, together with clear rules on working and on-call instances and entitlement to self-determined leisure time”.

Final 12 months, politicians from opposition social gathering The Left made an enchantment to the federal government concerning the working state of affairs of live-ins. One among its authors, Susanne Ferschl, mentioned that “Germany makes use of the pay hole between the nations so salaries appear extra engaging. However that approach second-class staff are created.”

She believes that the working circumstances of live-ins need to be managed and controlled, but in addition notes that “households are compelled to make use of the [current] system as a result of there are not any financeable alternate options”. For Germany’s care system to work higher and be fairer, it wants extra funding. In any other case “loopholes will nonetheless be sought and located”.

The live-ins themselves don’t have the power, the means, or typically the data to battle for higher working circumstances. The households that make use of them even have little incentive to hunt change. “If it doesn’t work out with that live-in, the following one will likely be there,” says Ewa.

That leaves issues as much as activists, staff’ rights teams, and politicians. “It’s scandalous what is going on, and it wants publicity,” says Ferschl. The subject of the live-ins’ state of affairs has been mentioned within the Bundestag beforehand, so there’s hope that will probably be once more. In Justyna Oblacewicz’s phrases: “the ball is now within the politicians’ courtroom”.

Primary picture credit score: Mieczyslaw Michalak / Agencja Gazeta