POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS OF BANNING TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT IN THE GERMAN MEAT INDUSTRY

Abstract

The German meat industry is a popular labour market destination for unskilled Eastern and
Middle European workers. The precarious employment and housing conditions, exacerbated by
a staggering number of COVID-19 infections, received immense media attention in 2020.
Given the urgency of this issue, the German government introduced new measures targeting
the sector with special attention paid to subcontractor companies. Utilising Beck’s risk society
thesis with a focus on his individualization thesis and adopting a critical theory perspective, this
paper explores how certain risk positions structure and get structured by social relations of
production. For this purpose, I took a sample of ten semi-structured interviews with Hungarian
regular and temporary workers, and a subcontractor company representative operating in the
German meat industry. Using Katz’s critical analytical framework I outline the categories of
individual survival tactics in response to the experienced insecurities and inherited conflictual
relations. What becomes apparent in this study is that Hungarian workers face quasi-uniform
commonplace issues regardless of their employment type. Precarious conditions often do not
stem exclusively from the nature of subcontractors but also from the exploitative firm practices
of the meat companies themselves and their hostile atmosphere, which fuel inherited conflicts
and interior fragmentation among workers.

Popular Abstract

The German Meat industry has received immense media attention in 2020 due to enabling the
highest number of Coronavirus infections in Europe. Tönnies factory the biggest
slaughterhouse in Europe employs around 7000 workers and more than 1,550 tested positive
for Covid-19. Even though the numbers are shocking this issue appeared to be dwarfed by the
vulnerable and exploited conditions these migrant workers arriving mainly from Central and
Eastern Europe in hope of a better life have to face on a daily basis: Living squeezed into
overcrowded hostels where even often eleven people have to share the same bathroom and
kitchen in exchange for high rental fees. Working ten to twelve hours next to the running
conveyor belts for minimum wage in a hostile environment where they are they are intimidated
by the team leaders tyrannical behaviours while deal with the constant fear of being fired any
time. The subcontracting system is considered to be the main cause of violations of workers’
rights and social dumping thus the newly introduced to Occupational Health and Safety act
targeted the elimination of those. In the past years there were many attempts to better the
migrant labourers’ situation however no real improvement has been made. In consequence, the
abandoned workers are employing individual survival strategies in an environment where they
have to confront many risks and insecurities which are fuelled by many factors such as cruel
treatment and lack of German skills. This leads to a situation where they are attempting to
defend themselves by being mistrustful, suspicious and competitive with their fellow workers
thus they are facing with same issues alone in a highly fragmented atmosphere. The survival
strategies they utilize might better their day to day life to a small extent but most of the cases
these rather solidify their vulnerable and exploited positions and regenerate their isolation and
negating the possibility of real empowerment and collective action taking against the unjust and
exploitative system in which they are embedded. It is thus necessary to have a closer look at
those factors and practices which reproduce their situation and those as well which might break
this loop of uncertainty. By this it becomes apparent what can we expect from the newly
introduced measures; are they going to make a real difference this time? The upcoming study
intends to find the answer to this question

• author: Takács, Boglárka
• supervisor: Jan Mewes
• organization: Department of Sociology; Sociology
• alternative title: The Case of Hungarian Precarious Workers
• course: SOCM04 20202
• year: 2021
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Social Sciences
• keywords: risk society thesis, individualization thesis, individual survival strategies, German meat industry, precariat, migrant workers
• language: English
• id: 9051206
• date added to LUP: 2021-06-09 09:11:39
• date last changed: 2021-06-09 09:11:39