At the end of July, Parliamentary State Secretary Anette Kramme travelled to Brazil to attend the G20 Meeting of Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs as the German representative.
On the day before the meeting, State Secretary Kramme met with globally active companies such as BASF and VW and trade union representatives at the Consulate-General in Sao Paulo. The talks focused on experiences with the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains, but the necessity of a level playing field at global level was also a point of discussion.
“We cannot accept that only money moves global trade around without taking account of workers’ rights,” Kramme said. The Federal Government had long been working to ensure that the rights of people in value-added chains are protected, she added. Kramme said she was convinced that “in order to live up to this responsibility, Germany has made an important contribution with the Act”.
The round table serves to implement the Joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation on sustainable supply chains. It was signed by Federal Minister Heil and the Brazilian Minister of Labour Marinho in the summer of 2023.
State Secretary Kramme also talked with employees of the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST), a model project to fight hunger in a favela on the outskirts of the city of 12 million. The network of almost 50 solidarity kitchens throughout Brazil offers hot meals and is a contact point for creating jobs and providing (political) education.
After that the head of the visa office of the Consulate-General in Sao Paulo showed the State Secretary how the Consular Services Portal works. The Consulate-General in Sao Paulo is one of three pilot sites which is testing automated visa application for the immigration of skilled workers to Germany.