When people talk about the meat industry, the focus is usually on factory farming, cramped facilities, and animal suffering. The industry has had a bad reputation for years, and not without reason. Yet there is one issue that is rarely discussed in connection with cheap meat: the people who leave their home countries, go deeply into debt, and work under precarious conditions to meet the demand for cheap meat.
The Dream of Europe and the Road to Dependency
The European meat industry employs around one million people and generates approximately €220 billion in annual revenue. The origins of this workforce have changed significantly in recent years. While the industry once relied primarily on workers from Poland, Romania, and Hungary, many employees today come from Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Vietnam, the Philippines, African countries, as well as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and China.
The prospect of earning several times what they would make at home, combined with the opportunity to provide financial support for their families, motivates many to take the step of coming to Europe.
Yet for many, the debt begins accumulating before they even set foot on German soil. Recruitment agencies charge sometimes five-figure sums for arranging visas, employment contracts, and entry into the country. According to an investigation by ARD political magazine Monitor, these fees often amount to around €10,000 and, in some cases, as much as €15,000.
One affected worker described his situation this way: “It was my dream to come to Europe. My family sold all their gold.”
Others report borrowing money from relatives, neighbors, or friends. The hope for a better life thus becomes an enormous financial risk.
Recruited as Skilled Workers, Employed as Unskilled Laborers
Many of these workers enter Germany on skilled-worker visas. Their passports list their occupation as “butcher.” The reality, however, often looks very different.
After arriving, many are hired merely as production workers and paid accordingly. According to The Guardian, foreign workers recruited through subcontractors and temporary staffing agencies sometimes earn 40 to 50 percent less than employees directly hired by the same companies. Unions therefore even refer to a “two-tier society” within the meat industry.
With an hourly wage of around €14.50, workers are often left with only about €1,300 net after taxes, housing, and transportation costs.
This money not only has to cover their own living expenses. Many also need to support their families back home while simultaneously paying off their substantial debts. For some, it takes years to repay the recruitment fees.
Priest and labor rights activist Peter Kossen has been advocating for workers in the meat industry for years and describes the situation aptly:
“Families have taken out loans and sent their young people abroad. You can’t simply abandon the whole project. Otherwise, you go back having gained nothing, just accumulated debt.”
Sick, Fired, Homeless
The situation becomes particularly devastating when workers fall ill, as the following incident shows:
A young man from India developed a severe skin rash shortly after arriving in Germany and even had to be hospitalized. Nevertheless, he was expected to return to work the very next day.
“I told my supervisor about my rash, but he said I absolutely had to come to work the next day.”
When his condition failed to improve and he stayed home from work, he was fired while still on probation. This is not an isolated case.
The problem is that in many cases, the employer also provides the worker’s housing. As a result, losing the job often means losing their home as well. Some end up on the streets within just a few days.
Another worker describes the situation like this:
“We were given two weeks to move out of the apartment. Then you have to sleep outside on the street with strangers. You have no other choice.”
Unions and experts also report that irregular working hours, unpaid overtime, bogus self-employment, and the lack of sick pay still occur in parts of the European meat industry. Many workers speak little or none of the local language and are unfamiliar with their rights. As a result, employment contracts and legal regulations are often difficult for them to understand.
The Business of Hope
Monitor’s investigation also shows that recruiting international workers has become a lucrative business for recruitment agencies.
These agencies specifically target workers in Asia for jobs in Germany’s meat industry. Speaking to undercover reporters, one recruiter even explained:
“Westfleisch is one of our major clients. They always order 20, 30, 40 [workers] at a time … That means you have absolutely no risk.”
When asked what happens if the workers are fired, she replied:
“They can quit during the probationary period or after it; that’s not a problem. As an employer, you have nothing to do with it. And that’s it. Once they’re fired, they’re fired.”
These statements illustrate a system in which people are sometimes treated like interchangeable commodities that can simply be “thrown away” at any time.
An Old Problem
The European meat industry has faced intense criticism in the past. Contracting arrangements and subcontractor structures allowed companies to outsource responsibility and systematically disadvantage workers.
In response, laws were tightened and certain employment models were banned. Yet recent investigations show that the industry has found new ways to continue recruiting low-cost labor.
The exploitation has changed, but it has not disappeared.
Translated by Julia Matzinger
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