the exploitation of contract workers in germany's meat industry you can say up to date by following our stories in correspondents on instagram and twitter i handle there is. our web site is the. m jar grid for me an entire news team thanks for watching. combating the pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and. our corona. covert 19 special next on d w. how does a virus spread. and then we'll. introduce through the techniques and we couldn't read your show is called spectrum if you

would like in the information on the quantum arash or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast. your podcast you can also find us at. science. it's been 8 months of masks of lockdowns and curfews of living in fear of covered 19 and around the world people are saying they've had enough coronavirus fatigue is setting in not just from the virus itself but the restrictions governments have implemented to slow it spread people are gathering closer together wearing face masks less often. some of the reactions have been angry demonstrations against coronavirus or. strick sions drawn tens of thousands of protesters into the streets

among the sea into the pandemic we understand that people are tired to get on with their lives with a vaccine likely still months away people's desire to return to normality and the growing backlash against restrictions is becoming a major risk. after months of the pandemic it's probably no surprise that many of us are feeling sick of getting sick in belgium people are returning to school and work after the summer break the number of new daily cases there is falling but the country has one of europe's highest death rates nevertheless a study into speaking region flanders' home to more than half the population shows 70 percent of people no longer support the restrictive measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus reporter teri schultz sent this report from brussels. the covered 19 infection rate is declining in belgium but $1000.00 fatigue is growing

so many months of isolation so many masks for me it's like something really oppressive t.-bo who doesn't want to give his last name despises social distancing and defies the rule to wear a mask in downtown brussels if i. if i go into metro ok but if i walk alone in the street no no that is really too much and tivo is hardly alone in his opposition michael for stratton who represents the protest group virus madness says no one should have to follow restrictions except to the most vulnerable how many people would die if we would not take any measures at all that we don't know in fact you have no idea new research shows just one in 3 people surveyed in the dutch speaking part of belgium still supports the safety measures that's down from more than 80 percent in march when the pandemic 1st hit here university of kent.

professor martin feldstein who led the study blames poor official communication for the dramatic drop in motivation he says it's been a wake up call for authorities to pay more attention to people state of mind i don't think we have sufficiently been informing people on the consequences of their behavior for them to take a wise decision and now that summer's over everyone's back from holidays more likely to be in enclosed places at work and school it could be a toxic coronavirus cocktail you're quite worried leading belgian virologist stephen vang says experts are stealing for a potential september surge he nonetheless agrees people should be given more information about actions and consequences and then more autonomy so people can have some freedom to choose what they think is appropriate for their situation and they can adapt their behavior but are people so sick of restrictions by now they

won't follow them believes most do comply but if i don't obey them too strictly because it's very difficult to do but i try anyway they come in i feel much safer wearing it we we must do it all together but skepticism is clearly growing in recent days open letters have been published in belgian media signed by hundreds of experts including doctors scientists and researchers suggesting the strict measure should be reviewed to see if they're stopping the virus or just the vitality of everyday life. basks always well as speak to naomi rogers who is professor in the history of medicine at yale should we be surprised that people are starting to feel tired of the masks and the restrictions. you know i really think we should be. i think that. as someone who's

also living through this as well and as a story now. i see all around me a sense that people have responded pretty seriously on the basis that this was some kind of disaster so for a disaster you know you're hunkered down you're you for guidance and somehow there was an implicit bargain that it would end many parents for example extraordinarily hard with their children. restricting their movement teaching them online hoping assuming that. the order that all the schools would be open and everything regard back to normal and it's been a real shock when that is simply not show it's like you say there's this bug and wasn't as if we did as we were told that we would get an early end to this pandemic

and it's not turned out that way for people you mention you're a historian of diseases is there a historical precedence for this is fatigue people getting tired of trying to protect themselves. oh actually during the 1918 pandemic. and we don't know it as much about the experience of people during tend to mix as we really short but it's very clear that people were so anxious to actually to be able to celebrate their return. world war one. veterans and finally at the end of what we now know was the 1st wave of the pen to make they were parades in history everybody was delighted and it was also a feeling that depend gimmick had ended but in fact that wasn't true and then there was. a real sense of anger and frustration when

influenza riam o. and as a major willed wiring problem a 2nd time in just a couple of months after that so we do know that they have been historical precedents both the air and here of waves and also the experience living through them if people are impatient because they want this to come to an end but what does an end to look like how can we say when this pandemic is over. that's such an interesting question and i have to say that in my experience i've written about it again makes and are afraid widely about others historians just didn't seem to really problematize to question it seems to me to actually quite a complicated idea what isn't and who is it who's cool when you do and when does it feel like an end and in particular for example living here in the united states i noticed that. during the summer there's been

a lot of cool for the simply to be the end that everybody should be able to go back to restaurants and bars. go swimming in lakes and the sea just return to an ordinary happy summer time saturday they just have to say so this is the end that's where we are now let's just pretend that's exactly who they're calling it the end. and this is being as you can imagine this. resulted in great frustration by many public health experts who say well but it but it isn't the end and people who weren't people in essence are saying we have been a relatively compliant we have to listen to the science and you don't know when and. and i think that there is i mean i don't know whether it's so much

a question of communication i think that's probably one issue but i think there's also a wider sense among the general public and really many public health experts as well which is that they don't know that they don't really have a good sense some of what the induced can look like or how to more confidently predict it and when your experts real when you realize the experts don't know. that becomes an even greater. motivation for just saying well maybe i i can decide when the isn't that's the problem nobody knows well at least this interview is now listen and thank you naomi rogers from the school of medicine it's been great to get your insights you're very welcome thank you for having me. now have you got questions you'd like to ask us about the coronavirus well getting contacts on how you tube channel and as science correspondent derrick williams will

do his best. what country has lost the most health care workers. this question came in a while ago and i wanted to answer it then but i couldn't find reliable data now we have some a new report released by amnesty international last week revealed how the pandemic has taken a very heavy toll on on frontline medical staff all over the world in the last 8 months in all it's said that at least 7000 health care workers have been killed by cope and 19 worldwide since the pandemic began and we know that hundreds of thousands more have been infected with the disease while while making efforts to contain it and to treat patients the report said that over half of all

confirmed deaths among medical staff had occurred in just 4 countries mexico the united states brazil and india that's not really a surprise those 4 countries also represent more than half of all confirmed cases of covert 19 a worldwide so so to answer your question mexico is the country that so far seems to have lost the most health care workers to the pandemic and it's lost them at a much higher rate in proportion to its number of confirmed cases than in other countries one analysis said health care workers there were 4 times more likely to die of the disease than their counterparts in the u.s. . derrick williams their citizens of venice got a break from the monotony of coronavirus restrictions with

a return of one of the city's most colorful events hundreds of facemask the nation's watched on as the annual regatta sturrock a return to the city's grand canal i've been doing it since the 13th century that's our show thanks for joining us. systemic exploitation in germany and turned. the nation's biggest meat processing company. to keep labor costs low dubious contracts but not much more. from january the practice will be banned in the meat industry but other industries will be able to continue regardless. of its contract workers closed. on d w. e india. and

a marriage be sustainable. dream weddings are on trend. female entrepreneur in bangalore organizes the happiest day of your life. without too many sacrifices and it leaves everyone with a cool conscious india. in 60 minutes on d w. didn't beethoven in villages took to did too didn't want to do. what he needed. so many romance is still in beethoven. courses are conscious always. the words without the biggest composer of all time

i constantly begin to imagine a world class horn player sara willis on a musical journey of discovery. 2 with all 3. starts september 16th on t.w. . producing more faster and for less money that's how turn us became germany's biggest meat processing company and how clemens turned us became a billionaire. but in june 1500 contract workers at the company's afraid of reading a book facility called coronavirus most came from eastern europe and lived in cramped shared apartments like the. ether because the one said many people live in such a small space that might be one telling that to fix 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 higher now wants to change things to come in will ban contract work and temporary work in the core activities of the meat industry lobby group 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 important in. a few kilometers away a relief operation is underway fate of eden park residents have made donations for the workers one of the organizers is an approach needed for over 70 years she's. in fighting for the rights of turn us workers. feel there's much more than we ever expected it happened at very short notice all right dearest give cat packages in

solidarity said the web to see that this anger isn't directed at them but it other visitors there's something going on. over 1000 packages have been collected containing food toiletries and even toys. maina georgieva and stand mammy hayloft distribute donations and failed for many chinese workers live in shared apartments. in a loft in georgieva give support to migrant workers from eastern europe but. they translate for us here that. one bowl garion says he's been a meat cutter for china's for 18 months. we're going to also go in for example if a veterinarian marks and he spots on the pig that are not suitable for consumption but one of his jobs is to cut them off. the man is employed by a subcontractor he gets the minimum wage 9 years 35 an hour he hasn't received

a paycheck for months he lives here in an 80 square metre apartment with 8 others next door we meet some men and women from all of them in that the men are contract workers for 10 years and also live here and collective accommodations how many people live here we ask a 29 s. 3 room apartment we want to know more about the tourney's workers living conditions we say will give them a camera for 20 minutes so they can take some pictures of their place where you all see one of the men refuses to do it you must show the other one takes our camera and goes off to take some pictures. look like they're all younger but after a few moments he comes back another man appears behind him and he doesn't seem to like the contract worker talking to us. the workers. told to give the camera back. resisting we ask who the man asked. is it that the boss. the fisher

yes yes. he sends the workers back into the house it would be he ordered them to leave father that fits all right it's a shame that happened i know i need to avoid because some of them wanted to talk to us and to tell us what was happening to them even if. i hope there are no bad consequences for them now and for the. workers behind bence's guarded by police. how did it come to this. in june 2020 there was a corona virus outbreak attorney and innovative beaten book germany's largest a slaughterhouse these pictures are from before the pandemic. in the ventilation system is said to be to blame for the mass infections as well as insufficient physical distancing between employees. one of the workers talked about his experiences in

a cell phone video and. as long as you feel healthy no one worries that you kept working. they only cared about the money. they didn't care if we died or not. it's 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 more positive. locals were also being tested. and soon the district went into lockdown again then turned his 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 in the canteen it was too crowded dockery if it was he beats us in mind we were told to distance ourselves but that was impossible otherwise we'd 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 i'm not feeling well i have to see a doctor she said you're not going anywhere. alberto was afraid of catching coronavirus so he went back to romania in mid june. he spent the last

12 years doing contract work in germany but after his experiences in the last few months he says he's had enough. of the. thousands of people like alberto gogu work attorney yes even though the company doesn't actually employ them. here's how the system of contract work and temporary work functions usually companies have a core workforce. there's 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 what's 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 doesn't take responsibility for the personnel who do it they don't 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. that's the system being a bush is fighting against when she heard about the poor working and living conditions at turn yes she decided to act. in 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 of labels to show what we'd see they'd be a bad 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 to. shows us a cell phone video she made in a flash shared by turn u.s. workers. 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 to enter 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 that night that he took notes as he heard about the situation. as it evolved into the see if he was so interested we found that now something would change when he left oh how sweet she said now something will happen.

she could hardly believe what happened next. clemence turn us 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 it's good that turn yes he sets positive standards and an industry that also has its share of bad apples. 5 years on sick mark briefly worked for clemens tony as as a consultant for $10000.00 euros a month and turn us with all his contacts in the political world as one of germany's 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 so-called craft butchers in germany. runs 5 of them in bremen. his family business employs around 70 people. how many of your personnel are contract workers. none of them. so they wouldn't 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. pork chops from a cheap supermarket might cost 6 year as a kilo on charges double that it's not only because of higher wages large slaughterhouses have lower costs and factory farmed fakes are cheaper. it's

advertised as regional pork that's all very well but look the certification of all is one and that's industrial pig farming where only the lowest requirements of animal welfare for phil. as president of the german torturers association domon says small but yours 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 be done in you all of them with me but at the big industrial places the prices at most $150.00 to $2.00 euro so in addition 'd small butchers pay higher fees for disposing slaughterhouse waste and spend more on electricity because of renewable energy levies dorman isn't trying to match the industrial slaughterhouse prices but he does want more support from politicians $1.00 and we don't want special treatment just equal treatment.

giant slaughterhouses aren't just a threat to smaller competitors but often to their own workers too. is the chairman of the charity company toss and the district of good to slow he's witnessed how the turn his company went from being a simple butcher store to germany's largest slaughterhouse and meat processor he says clemens turn u.s. made his fortune at the expense of workers. to news is not true to hold news makes most of the profit of course there's no question that they've exploited the poverty gap for professional gain. to news is they also profit because if there are blatant violations. it's always the subcontractors fault as always keeps its hands clean. has been advising tanya's 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. technically the minimum wage is what's 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 isn't much left over from the minimum wage . for most of the several 1000 contract workers a turn yes far from for parts of eastern europe they speak hardly any german. they're brought to the country and put and to cramp shared accommodations this also has a wider effects on the region. for this business model means that more and more poor people with little education come to the region and it's 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 didn't go into any detail but he did say it aims to gradually change working conditions 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 labor market flexibility. that was a key part of social democrat chancellor gerhard schroeder's so-called agenda 2010 . the deadline is their fear ladies and gentlemen we're 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 so-called many jobs at the university of applied sciences and professor examines the cause it's

a precarious employment he says his labor reforms also known as the hearts reforms weekend workers' rights that's because it's admits it's time vying to give balance a good deal with the hearts 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 in mine. since the hearts reforms employers in many industries have used all legal means to keep wages low and profits 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. we've seen it in the meat industry and. 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 it has nothing to do with periods of peak demand. it's in the. contract work has many advantages for employers if workers stay home because of illness vacation or pregnancy it doesn't cost the employer a cent contract workers also have no voice within the company. i'll probably get more free than disease no mother buys a hip and giggle about young bush contract work releases the employers from all the obligations they normally have to their employees mention. maybe by workers through a subcontractor the way they buy screws or other goods when this we can call the costs our personnel costs their material costs on time that's 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. germany's upper

house of the bone despotic 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 so-called social dumping. bundestag lawmaker be author minigame has been fighting against precarious employment in the meat and agricultural industries for years before that and dusty demanding that contract work and temporary work be prohibitive when it comes to a business is cooler activity is able companies have to take responsibility themselves under. we think it's a very important that safeguards is strengthened and that this one single safeguard mechanism for wages working hours to patients a house 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 germany's labor ministry for an interview about the

issue several times without success so instead we approached labor minister who bet his heil after the bone just hot session. we prado 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 a small why can't the government do anything about prepare. i simply meant in germany is this because it's the state's job to do something but in our system it's above all the job of stakeholders like unions and employers and there's the problem with our system of social partnership as a road in recent years with your fewer and fewer employers are employers association and in many sectors far too few employees are in union. to put the blame at the door of unions and employers doesn't quite wash yet we push the minister on why there's been little action from politicians it was no fish dozens

watching full funded 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 that's a good yes i'm 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 they're not enforced and we're going to ban contract work and temporary work in the court activities of the meat industry need a bud for beaten with that go back to us high a would be taking on some of the biggest companies in europe big in part because they keep wages low through contract work. we ask the employers association for food and consumption for comment they declined an interview directing our questions

to a meat industry employers 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 myself pasha works for the german institute for economic research. there which are some of those. britain germany is not in danger of losing this industry if there are fewer atypical employment arrangements. that's a myth with no basis in fact. that a 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 so-called 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. we want and it's not just the meat industry it happens in many other sectors including logistics. the dortmund logistics company for deals g.e. is a subsidiary of discount retail giant teddy it supplies teddy stores throughout europe. in october 29th chain we reported on how workers here for striking for better wages. was the head of the employee organization at the time philip keynes fought for years for a collective agreement. must occur or no negotiation 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 he's now union secretary at the trade union verity we ask what's changed at the. this is hard it's worse today than it was before we now have twice as many contract workers of permanent staff. in teddy who 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. it's not just about the meat industry contracts are

a problem there used to be entrepreneurial risk the entrepreneur had the money but they also had the risk if there was no work to do that's 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 it's done just so long as they don't 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 politics it can't be the goal of german economic policy to participate in undercutting competition in europe to push wages even lower and promote 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.

germany's low wage sector has grown by 60 percent mainly thanks to chancellor schroeder as agenda 2010. in a recent study from the bettas month 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. if the median incomes in less than 11 year olds 40 an hour if. that's a lot of people by international standards and 16 feet. in almost all neighboring countries 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 hansen. 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. that's the big danish. almost all employees are directly employed by the company. wages are also much higher. german meat cutters generally only get the statutory minimum wage of 9 euro is $35.00 an hour. danish employees 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 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 meat companies also try to push down wages but here

almost all employees are in the union that unity makes the workforce strong when companies don't want to strike collective agreements. we can ask for help and support from the other unions. you know 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 yes itself faces those conditions and denmark. you have we also have 10 years here in denmark that has to slaughterhouses one in book and one in tested are there workers contract workers. if not all their employees employed by turn yes they get the same as everyone else in the industry industry. the denmark shows that it's possible to run

a business successfully and pay employees fairly. profit making through precarious employment is something germany as perfect is above all other european countries the practice should end in 2021 at least in the meat industry as for other industries this legal exploitation is likely to continue.

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