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including interview with Mousa Othman, policy expert at the Competence Centre Fair Integration.

A nationwide service for refugees and migrants from third countries

Starting point/challenge

People from third countries who work in Germany are often insufficiently aware of German labour laws. Their employment opportunities are also frequently linked to provisions set out under residence law. These aspects and further factors such as a lack of language knowledge mean that refugees and migrants from third countries are likely to be affected by precarious working conditions. They often do not know to whom they should turn once they find themselves in such unstable employment arrangements, such as when they are not paid or are paid at a level below the minimum wage. Persons seeking advice in such circumstances are usually poorly networked and not members of a trade union. They do not have access to advice or to points of contact with detailed knowledge in the field of employment law who can provide support in circumstances where intercultural or linguistic difficulties may arise.

Implementation

The national Fair Integration Advisory Network was initiated as part of the IQ Funding Programme in order to offer refugees and migrants counselling on matters relating to employment and social security law in a language-appropriate and culturally sensitive way. Advice centres have been delivering free advisory sessions in various languages of origin since 2018. Advice can also be given anonymously if preferred. The aim is to use active and preventative information to notify refugees and migrants from third countries of the employment rights they have and to assist them in asserting these. A multilingual and protected advisory environment helps to break down barriers and to increase trust in the advice services. The objective is to avoid precarious employment relationships and work exploitation.

The advice centres are being implemented by sixteen provider organisations across the country. These providers collaborate closely with stakeholders of the IQ Funding Programme, with further local advisory structures such as Fair Mobility, with individual trade unions, with the Federal Employment Agency, with migrant organisations, with language schools, and with social institutions.

Preventative information campaigns are also organised to run alongside the individual advisory sessions. Staff from specific occupational groups and sectors, such as construction industry workers and couriers, are recruited to explain the rights and opportunities they enjoy.

In addition to this, advisers from Fair Integration also offer the service users active assistance in the further course of the advisory session. These advisers can provide help in understanding and translating documents. They also draw up enforcement notices directed at employers and escort the service users if possible and as required, including by serving as interpreters in court. The advisers always act in the best interests of the service users and with a view to promoting empowerment. They highlight legal possibilities and issue recommendations, although the service users themselves ultimately decide the direction they wish to pursue in order to resolve their own problem.

A national structure is in place to support the advisers in carrying out their various tasks. The Fair Integration Competence Centre has been set up for this purpose. This centre falls within the remit of IQ Consult, a not-for-profit company dedicated to cosmopolitanism, tolerance and diversity which is a 100-percent subsidiary of BUND, the Education and Training Institute of the
German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). The main task of the Competence Centre is to support and coordinate the advice centres. It plans and carries out events that allow the advice centres to network, enables the exchange of professional expertise at case conferences, and uses seminars as a vehicle to train advisers on important labour law issues. The Competence Centre facilitates practical consultancy work by ensuring quality standards and by offering second level support in difficult advisory cases. It assists further by designing and producing information materials for persons seeking advice. Nationwide public relations work raises awareness of the opportunity for advice and also draws attention to the successes and results of Fair Integration.

Conclusion

The experience from providing advice shows that many third country nationals are insufficiently aware of their rights and that there is a high level of need for the advice and information offered by Fair Integration. Fair Integration has created an advisory structure to avoid exploitation on the labour market and to prevent precarious working arrangements. Anonymous advice offered free of charge in many languages of origin has enabled third country nationals to receive advice in an innovative and efficient way. This ultimately also ensures fair and sustainable labour market integration.