Workers rights
Unions want better protection for seasonal workers
Harvest workers picking asparagus. Symbol picture Photo: Peter Steffen / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Despite Corona, thousands of migrant workers from Eastern Europe brought the harvest in Germany again in the past season. To prevent exploitation, trade unionists have a few suggestions.
The Bauen Agrar Umwelt trade union has called for better social protection for seasonal workers in agriculture.
“The permanent massive labor law violations in seasonal work must finally stop,” said IG BAU Vice Harald Schaum on Friday at the presentation of the 2021 annual report of the Fair Agricultural Work Initiative. According to estimates by the union, around 274,000 migrant workers were once again employed in the various harvests in Germany in the current year.
Numerous cases are documented in the report in which the people, mostly from Eastern Europe, were deprived of their fair wages using various methods. Inadequate accommodations, for which in some cases excessive rents were demanded, as well as inadequate corona protective measures are other common shortcomings that were noticed during the initiative’s company visits. The strict work quarantine that was imposed in some cases also harbored a high potential for abuse, according to foam, because the employees were practically forcibly tied to a company.
DGB board member Anja Piel criticized the time during the pandemic, which was extended to 102 days in which seasonal workers could be employed without social insurance. The next government coalition must end the “exploitation in German fields,” said the union. “Short-term employment that is not socially secure must be limited to a few days a year in all sectors.” State controls would have to be expanded and working hours reliably recorded. In addition, employers should pay for decent housing.
The obligation to provide evidence of health insurance, which will apply from next year, will not be sufficient, said Katharina Varelmann from the Faire Landarbeit initiative. You expect that many employers will conclude private group insurance contracts with an unclear scope of benefits. In this way, however, the employees would not have direct access to the benefits that is independent of the employer.