Almost every third employee in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is paid according to the statutory minimum wage. And some are even denied it. According to the will of the left, more controls should curb the number of violations of the law.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) – In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, exactly 75 investigations into violations of the Minimum Wage Act were initiated in the first half of 2022. As can be seen from the federal government’s response to a small question from the left in the Bundestag, that was as many as before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the half-year figures were only about half as high despite almost the same controls.
The labor market expert of the left-wing faction in the Schwerin state parliament, Henning Foerster, complained about insufficient search pressure on dubious working companies. In the first half of 2022, only 748 employer examinations were carried out in the north-east. “With around 57,000 companies in the state, this corresponds to a rate of 1.3 percent,” calculated Foerster. If employers do not comply with the legal provisions on the minimum wage, they would hardly have to worry about the consequences due to the lack of control. “Minimum wage fraud is not a trivial offense, but must be described as an economic crime,” he said.
The left-wing politician called for more frequent controls to give more emphasis to compliance with the applicable rules. For this purpose, the test centers would have to be better staffed. In the main customs office in Stralsund, which is responsible for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, around 180 people were active in 2021, too few, according to Foerster. He also suggested setting up a central state reporting office for violations of minimum working conditions.
Foerster referred to surveys by the DGB, according to which almost every third employee in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is paid the minimum wage. In no other federal state is the proportion higher. That is why the lower wage limit, which was raised to EUR 12 per hour on October 1st, is so important for people in the country, but can only partially compensate for the current price increases for electricity, heating and food.
