A small space there might be one telling that to 10 people who had to. Contract workers get less money and fewer rights and not just in the Meat Industry. German labor minister who because high are now wants to change things it will ban contract work and temporary work in the core activities of the Meat Industry because the pandemic called attention to contract worker exploitation in germany. The town of failed near fate of eating pork at the end of june thousands of people from Eastern Europe are essentially under house arrest guarded by police their work at the turn a slaughterhouse has been suspended. Around 7000 employees are in quarantine. A few kilometers away a relief operation is underway. Residents have made donations but the workers one of the organizers is an approach needed for over 70 years shes been fighting for the rights of turn his workers. Feel good. Much more than we ever expected it happened at very short notice our idea here is to give cat packages in solidarity said the web to see that this anger isnt directed at them but it another visitor to theres something going on. Over 1000 packages have been collected containing food toiletries and even toys. Georgieva and stand mammie head off distribute donations and fair for many Chinese Workers live in shared apartments. The male often georgieva give support to Migrant Workers from Eastern Europe. They translate for us here not. One bulgarian says hes been a meat cutter for chinas for 18 months. Were going to offer you in for example if a veterinarian marks any spots on the pig that are not suitable for consumption but one of his jobs is to cut them off and it all got to. The man is employed by a subcontractor he gets the minimum wage 9 euros 35. 00 an hour he hasnt received a paycheck for months he lives here in an 80 square metre apartments with 8 others next door we meet some men and women from polish them in them the men are contract workers for 10 years and also live here and collective accommodations how many people live here we ask 8 o 9 s 3 room apartment we want to know more about the tourneys workers Living Conditions we say will give them a camera for 20 minutes so they can take some pictures of their place one of the men refuses. You must feel the other one takes our camera and goes off to take some pictures. Look like theyre all at the unit but after a few moments he comes back another man appears behind him and he doesnt seem to like the contract worker talking to us. The worker is told to give the camera back well we receive we ask. Who the man asked. Is it that the boss. The fisher yes yes. He sends the workers back into the house would he ordered them to leave father the 5th so far its a shame that happened. I need to avoid because some of them wanted to talk to us and to tell us what was happening to them. I hope there are no bad consequences for them now and for the. Workers behind fences guarded by police and how did it come to this. June 2020 there was a corona Virus Outbreak attorney and innovative beaten book germanys largest slaughterhouse these pictures are from before the pandemic. In the ventilation system is said to be to blame for the mass infection as well as insufficient physical distancing between employees. One of the workers talked about his experiences in a cell phone video. As long as you felt healthy no one worries that you kept working. They only cared about the money. They didnt care if we died or not. Its likely the employees spread the virus from the workplace into their homes many live with 3 to 4 people in a single room so the outbreak grew. More than 6000 Chinese Workers were tested more than 1500 were positive. Locals were also being tested. In june the district went into lockdown again then turn is working conditions became a focus of global attention. A small village in the south of romania. Alberto gogu lives in this house with his family he literally fled from a data beaten book in mid june. As a contract worker attorney as he experienced the corona Virus Outbreak he says physical distancing at work was impossible. Even and i cant teen it was too crowded dockery if it was he beats us in mind we were told to distance ourselves but that was impossible otherwise wed have to be standing up and. Alberto says that when the 1st workers got sick he and his colleagues had to work much more. He was doing up to 12 hours a day on the production line even when he felt sick himself. Because i told the boss im not feeling well i have to see a doctor she said youre not going anywhere. Alberto was afraid of catching coronavirus so he went back to romania and mid june. He spent the last 12 years doing contract work in germany but after his experiences in the last few months he says hes had enough. Of the. Thousands of people like alberto gogu work attorney yes even though the company doesnt actually employ them. Heres how the system of contract work and temporary work functions usually companies have a core workforce if theres more to do it short notice temporary workers can be hired. They become part of the company for a limited time. Temporary work is rare in the Meat Industry whats common is contract work. This is when a Company Hires sub contractors to carry out a specific job like cutting up animal carcasses. The subcontractor sends its workers to do the job the original company pays for the work to be done but doesnt take responsibility for the personnel who do it they dont belong to the company. To turn a site of 8 of even both works with around 25 subcontractors who mostly source their workers from Eastern Europe. Of a total of 16500. 00 employees only half are employed by turn yes the other half are contract workers. Thats the system being a bunch is fighting against when she heard about the poor working and Living Conditions that turn yes she decided to act. And 2013 she and others found. In a group to help those affected by exploitation of employment. She shows us articles about her work. As early as 2014 the group was pointing out contract workers often alarming Living Conditions. The doubt the plan of the building with the top and use labels to share what we see theyd be a bag and even that might be a bunk bed so many people live in such a small space there might be one toilet for 10 people. Or shows us a cell phone video she made in a flat shared by turning us workers. The living rooms are filled with beds 3. 00 to 4. 00 people sleep in one room. The bathroom is completely rundown. Today many say they knew nothing about the situation. But her and her fellow activists have been criticizing these conditions for 7 years in 2015 and they took their concerns to the highest level. Zeugma then economy minister and vice chancellor visited them. He took notes as he heard about the situation. Into the sea and because he was so interested we felt sure that now something would change when he left the house we choose we said now something will happen. She could hardly believe what happened next. Clements turn us took on a guided tour of his Meat Processing plant in front of the cameras it was a p. R. Coup for the businessman the vice chancellor was full of praise despite knowing about the problems that turn us later he wrote on facebook its good that sets positive standards in an industry that also has its share of bad apples. 5 years on 6 briefly work. As a consultant for 10000 euros a month and turn us with all his contacts in the political world is one of germanys richest people with an estimated private fortune of up to 2000000000 euros enough to employ a host of contract workers whose poor living and working conditions have been known for years and even a former german vice chancellor. Not every part of the Meat Industry relies on contract workers there are still around 13000 socalled craft butchers in germany. Runs 5 of them in. His Family Business employs around 70 people. How many of your personnel are contract workers. None of them. So they wouldnt be here if i put them on a work contract and temporary workers. Temporary workers either a lot of them have been with me for over 10 or 15 years. From a cheap supermarket might cost 6. 00 euros a kilo charges double that its not only because of higher wages large slaughterhouses have lower costs and factory farms fakes are cheaper. Its advertised as regional pork thats all very well but look at the certification of those one thats industrial pig farming where only the lowest requirements of Animal Welfare are overfilled. As president of the german orchards Association Says small butchers are at a disadvantage for example a government certified veterinary examination of a pig costs a Small Business up to 24. 00 euros businesses that slaughter several 1000 animals a day pay less according to Regional Peace scales and they dont and you get the Big Industrial places. The price is at most 150. 00 to 2. 00 euro. In addition small butchers pay higher fees for disposing slaughterhouse waste and spend more on electricity because of Renewable Energy levies no money isnt trying to match the industrial slaughter house prices but he does want more support from politicians one and we dont want special treatment just equal treatment of. Giants water houses arent just a threat to smaller competitors but often to their own workers to focus on is the chairman of the Charity Coffee toss and the district of good hes witnessed how the turn his company went from being a simple butcher store to germanys largest slaughterhouse and meat processor he says clemens turning us made his fortune at the expense of workers will turn this isnt the truth the whole point in years makes most of the profit of course theres no question that theyve exploited the poverty gap for professional gain. To news is they also profit because if there are blatant violations its always the subcontractors fault as always keeps its hands clean. Bogan yoga has been advising chinese contract workers and their families since 2016. He and his colleagues have held more than 10000 consultations he knows the methods used to keep monthly wages low. And technically the minimum wage is whats on the pay slip but then there might be 150. 00 or 300. 00 euros deducted for accommodation or for cleaning materials or shoes whatever they can deduct or they increase the rent when people are sick that type of thing there isnt much left over from the minimum wage. Most of the several 1000 contract workers attorney yes are from more parts of Eastern Europe they speak hardly any german. They are brought to the country and put into cramped shared a comedy. Asians this also has wider effects on the region this shift. This Business Model means that more and more poor people with little education come to the region and its some Point Society is no longer able to cope with it definitely threaten social cohesion. We asked. To comment on the living and working conditions of contract workers in a written response the company didnt go into any detail but he did say it aims to gradually change working conditions it plans to directly employ workers in the areas of slaughtering cutting and packaging by the beginning of 2021. 1 factor that led to the Current Situation was a concerted political push for the labor market flexibility. That was a key part of social democrat chancellor gerhard schroeders socalled agenda 2010. The deadline is there fear ladies and gentlemen were going to have to cut back on state benefits demand personal responsibility and ask more from each individual. Agenda 2010 ushered in contract work temporary work and socalled many jobs at the university of applied sciences and copelands professor stefan examines the causes a precarious employment he says his labor reforms also known as the hearts reforms weekend workers rights thats yeah thats because its a. Good guide to get did what the hans laws brought with them was enormous deregulation of protector labor market provision. They enable temporary work and in my view they made it easier to abuse Something Like contract work. Since the hearts reforms employers in Many Industries have used means to keep wages low and. Off its high even though contract work was really designed to address seasonal demands for extra labor. The problem in Many Industries is that the core Business Activity is now permanently carried out by contractors. And weve seen it in the Meat Industry and there. We also see it in logistics but above all in the construction sector. There the general work has been done by contract workers for years and it has nothing to do with periods of peak demand. Its in the. Contract work has many advantages for employers if workers stay home because of illness vacation or pregnancy it doesnt cost the employer a cent contract workers also have no voice within the company. And i would give all 3 of these enormous giggling about young bush contract work releases the employer from all the obligations theyd normally have to their employees mention the extra tax time maybe by workers through a subcontractor the way theyd buy screws or other goods on this big include all the costs arent personnel costs their material costs on time thats the cost. To turn a scandal brought yet another shock to the political establishment pushing lawmakers to ensure that workers from abroad were paid fairly. Germanys upper house and the going to spot voted on a bill to guarantee that workers from other e. U. Countries would get the same pay as german colleagues an effort to prevent socalled social dumping. Bundestag lawmaker be autumn in a game has been fighting against precarious employment and the meat and Agricultural Industries for years if all the untasty demanding that contract work and temporary work be prohibitive when it comes to a business is cooler activity in this example companies have to take responsibility themselves and you know. We think its very important that safeguards a strengthened and that this one single safeguard mechanism for wages working hours Occupational Health and safety house protections and accommodation. Again and again there have been legislative attempts to protect workers from social dumping and abuses of the contract work system. We asked germanys Labor Ministry for an interview about the issue several times without success so instead we approached labor minister who backed his hisle after the bone just hot session. We brought a list of almost 20 legislative initiatives intended to stop precarious employment relationships in recent years almost all were either rejected or languished in a desk drawer. Promises which mean why cant the government do anything about prepare. I simply meant in germany is this because its the states job to do something but in our system its above all the job of stakeholders like unions and employers and theres the problem our system of social partnership is a road in recent years with your fewer and fewer employers or it Employers Association and in many sectors far too few employees are in union. To put the blame at the door of unions and employers doesnt quite wash yet we push the minister on why theres been little action from politicians with no effect on dozens watching for funding by lobbyists you only have to see that in these cases either the lobbyists have watered down laws or if there were strong regulations circumvented them with trickily written contracts involving sub sub contractors thats a good yes im determined to clean up the industry through digital recording of working hours by emphasizing the responsibility of states to adhere to binding inspection quotas with work safety authorities and not just in the Meat Industry and by having clear and enforced rules regarding employee accommodation. Because the strictest rules are no use if theyre not enforced and were going to ban contract work and temporary work are in the core activities of the Meat Industry. With that who battles hisle would be taking on some of the Biggest Companies in europe big in part because they keep wages low through contract work. We asked the Employers Association for food and consumption for comment they declined an interview directing our questions to a Meat IndustryEmployers Group the s. P. A they gave us this written response regarding the planned abolition of contract work and temporary work in the Meat Industry. Contract work is an important instrument of flexibility without flexibility the Meat Industry would go abroad and more than 50 percent of jobs will be threatened. The s. P. S. Argument is one that employers often make. But others strongly disagree. Professor mussel flusher works for the German Institute for Economic Research. Literature some of those trying to get far with germanys not in danger of losing this industry if there are fewer atypical employment arrangements. Thats a myth with no basis in fact not so not but the fact is that German Companies are very competitive internationally not because of atypical employment but because of their highly productive employees. This is a typical employment includes temporary work and contract work but also socalled many jobs fixed Term Contracts and part time work almost a 3rd of german workers have this kind of employment that figure has risen sharply since the 1990 s. And its not just the Meat Industry that happens in many other sectors including logistics. The dortmund Logistics Company or deals g. E. Is a subsidiary of Discount Retail giant teddy it supplies teddy stores throughout europe. In october 29000 we reported on how workers here were striking for better wages. Says the head of the Employee Organization at the time philip keynes fought for years for a collective agreement. But a kind of are no negotiations i mean a lawyer is refusing to talk to the union according to the Employee Organization of the company had about 640 employees and 2019 of these about 350 were said to be contract workers. Only 290 women and men were on permanent staff. A year on we meet philip keynes again hes now Union Secretary at the trade union berti we ask whats changed at the. It was hard its worse today than it was before we now have twice as many contract workers as permanent staff. Do you mean. And teddy are really pushing to use contract work to oust their own employees. The reduction of permanent staff is in full swing in Many Industries. What employers call flexible is ation means insecurity and lower pay for employees. Its not just about the Meat Industry contracts are a problem. Used to be entrepreneurial risk the entrepreneur had the money but they also had the risk if there was no work to do thats fallen completely by the wayside today they say they need people to be on call when there is work but they should just disappear when its done just so long as they dont have to pay anyone to stand around. The German Institute for Economic Research is. Also critical of the fact that Companies Often exploit contract work and other such employment arrangements. See that option but just. Cant be the goal of german Economic Policy to participate in undercutting competition in europe to push wages even lower and for most ever more atypical employment. After all we know that the goal of companies has to be to be productive and to offer better products. And we can see that atypical employment tends to damage that kind of competitiveness but. Since the 1990 s. Germanys low wage sector has grown by 60 percent mainly thanks to chancellor schroeder as agenda 2010. In a recent study from the battles Mon Foundation the German Institute for Economic Research found that around 7700000. 00 germans had low wage jobs. More than a 5th of employees work for less than 60 percent. The median incomes in less than 11 year olds 40 an hour the new gods if. Thats a lot of people by International Standards 16 feet. In almost all neighboring countries and there are fewer workers in the low wage sector than in germany. And denmark for example workers in the Meat Industry are much better paid. At the danish food trade union and we meet jim henson. He used to work as a meat cutter himself. We asked him how many contract workers there are in the danish Meat Industry. Why not. Because they have to be employed according to collective agreement they have to be hired by the employer and they have to work for the agreed wage. Thats the big danish Small Business almost all employees are directly employed by the company. Wages are also much higher. Than german meat cutters generally only get the statutory minimum wage of 9 years 35 an hour. Receive a standard wage of 27. 00 euro is on average almost 3 times as much i mean surely no one can afford danish meat at those rates then maybe 2 or 3 percent of the cost of a cutlet will be labor costs this is it might be 2 percent in germany and 3 percent in denmark no more so the wage competition is only to make profit you can make more profit in germany then you can a denmark. Says danish me companies also try to push down wages but here almost all employees are in the union that unity makes the workforce strong when companies dont want to strike collective agreements. We can ask for help and support from the other unions. No electrician will come to that company no truck driver will drive in or out and so. Sooner or later we can persuade them to enter into a collective agreement. Even turn us itself faces those conditions in denmark. We also have to news here in denmark it has to slaughterhouses one in blue and one in tested are there workers contract workers. Not all their employees employed by. They get the same as everyone else in the industry. The denmark shows that its possible to run a business successfully. Profit making through precarious employment is something germ. As perfected above all other European Countries the practice showed and in 2021 at least in the Meat Industry as for other industries this legal exploitation is likely to continue. And the american should be sustainable. Green light in our own trend. In bangalow organizes the happiest aint a few online. Without too many sacrifices and it leaves everyone with a cool conscience. And 30 minutes d. W. This is deja vu news coming to you live from berlin fire rips through a greek migrant camp under coronavirus firefighters fought the blaze overnight as thousands fled the rio. The overcrowded camps on the island of lesbos was notorious for its poor conditions conflicting reports on how the fire started also coming up another Opposition Leader in belarus because been seized by masked man say he was detained on wednesday morning this follows the similar disappearance of protest leader mario