Report

An end to 'organised irresponsibility'?: Renewing labour relations in the German meat industry

Over the course of 2020, repeated outbreaks of COVID-19 in a number of large German meat processing plants led to renewed public concern about the longstanding labour abuses in this industry. New legislation providing for enhanced inspection on health and safety, together with a ban on contract work and limitations on the use of temporary agency employees, holds out the prospect of a profound change in employment practices and labour relations in the meat industry. Changes in the law are not sufficient, on their own, to ensure decent working conditions, however. There is also a need to re-establish the previously high level of collective bargaining coverage in the industry, underpinned by an industry-wide collective agreement extended by law to cover the entire sector.