Federal government: SPD wants more migrants from the state – but no quota

The SPD wants to ensure that more migrants are interested in public sector jobs. The Social Democrats reject a migrant quota, as SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said in Kiel. Support for the SPD course on this issue comes from the civil service association dbb, which represents around 1.3 million civil servants and collective bargaining employees in the public service and private service sector.

“It’s not about discrimination,” said Mützenich when asked whether Germans without a migration background would not be discriminated against by increasing the involvement of migrants in the public service. “The speech, for example by police officers to immigrants, mostly young people, seems to me to be very important, also in order to build a relationship of trust.” “Bild” had previously reported.

“It’s not about a quota at all”

Mützenich made it clear: “It’s not about a quota.” Mützenich explained to the broadcaster Welt-TV: “It’s not about a quota at all, (…) it’s about finding good employees to do good work.” He added: “If this is an important question in the public service, it is also good that the Federal Minister of the Interior is taking care of it.”

Fiber wants to diversify civil service

In accordance with the coalition agreement, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is committed to a higher proportion of migrants in the public service.

It is time for public administration to better reflect the fact that one in four people in Germany has a migration background, Faeser said in April. Faeser announced a “diversity strategy” to strengthen the “talents and perspectives of society as a whole” at the federal, state and local levels. Implementation is currently being prepared.

A ministry spokesman told “Welt” that the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s draft law would not contain a legal quota. The ministry will give priority to suitability, ability and professional performance in all considerations.

dbb: Civil service should reflect society

It is necessary “that as many population groups as possible find themselves and are represented in the public service, including migrants,” said the head of the dbb civil servants’ association, Ulrich Silberbach, to the German Press Agency in Berlin. However, his association rejects quotas for civil servants.

Around twelve percent of employees in the federal administration currently have a migration background, as integration commissioner Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD) noted in April. There are twice as many in the population. However, diverse teams usually produce better results.

Migrants better in foreigner disputes?

Silberbach said: “The criteria here are rightly so: suitability, ability and professional performance.” A stronger representation of people with a migration background strengthens intercultural competence in the team and can help in many conflict situations. “Many authorities have long since adapted their own recruitment of young talent accordingly,” reported Silberbach, who has been a CDU member for years and, with the dbb, leads a more conservative union in the spectrum of unions.

Migrants also want to be paid fairly

Mützenich explained: “You can’t just be in the public service, just as you can’t be in a company.” You have to be qualified for it. It’s good that Faeser is thinking about this. However, the goals in this area cannot be achieved by law alone. “Ultimately what matters is that the public service is competitive,” said Mützenich.

The background to this is the complex collective bargaining rounds in which the federal and local authorities on the one hand and the states on the other hand regularly negotiate collective agreements with the Verdi and dbb unions. A central argument there, mainly cited by the unions, is: “We depend on skilled workers,” as Mützenich also said.