In the future, work contracts and overcrowded accommodations for the butchers should be a thing of the past. The meat industry is now considering suing. The problem is the interference in the corporate law of the groups.
The meat industry has criticized the planned legislative package to ban work contracts and temporary agency work in the industry as “vague” and is keeping a lawsuit open. “Not when it comes to the ban on work contracts. We would, however, very well file a lawsuit against the planned interference in the company law of the companies,” said the managing director of the Association of the Meat Industry (VDF), Heike Harstick, of the “Welt”. She criticized that the essence of the law was very far-reaching and left plenty of room for interpretation.
“Sometimes you don’t even know what’s still allowed and what’s not,” said Harstick. “So nobody can rely on what is ultimately interpreted and how. And that with a sentence of 500,000 euros.” Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) shoot far beyond the target. “If the passages in the law remain that way, many companies will not survive,” said Harstick.
Work contracts and agency work banned next year
Heil plans to ban work contracts from January 1, 2021 and agency work from April 1, 2021. Butchers with up to 49 employees are excluded. With a work contract, companies award certain orders and activities to other companies that take care of the complete execution. The government believes the ban will result in better visibility of workers’ rights in the industry.
In addition, an obligation to electronically record working hours, minimum requirements for shared accommodation and a minimum quota for health and safety inspections are to be introduced, since the government believes that companies are controlled too rarely. From 2026 onwards, at least five percent of the companies are to receive visits from the authorities every year.
The industry chief has no objection to a ban on work contracts, most regulations on occupational safety, electronic time recording and planned controls. The problem is deep interference in the corporate structures of the company by the law. “Some of them are completely questioned, for example by redefining the term owner and prohibiting cooperation, dual partners or even wage slaughter.” But all of this has nothing to do with the working conditions for the workers. “Instead, corporate freedoms are curtailed,” said Harstick.
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