Germany: Coronavirus exposes meat workers’ plight

June 22, 2020

The apple on the windowsill looks fresh; the two rickety bedframes in the room still have linen on them. “There were about 13 workers living in this house until recently,” says Inge Bultschnieder, who has been fighting for years to gain better conditions for meat packers at Tönnies, most of whom come from Bulgaria, Romania, Poland or North Macedonia.

Read more: How does Germany’s meat industry work?

Bultschnieder points toward the corners of the room, where purple-gray mold covers the wall. The front door is open, but it still stinks in this ramshackle house in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, southwest of Bielefeld. Behind the building in a dumpster is an old refrigerator, apparently still full of meat. “Meat from Tönnies that is going moldy,” says Bultschnieder, holding her nose.

Protesters outside the Tönnies plant

Rights groups have protested conditions at the Tönnies plant for years

Years ago, she organized demonstrations in front of this house and others like it to draw attention to the conditions in which the Eastern European factory workers were living.

“No one at the Tönnies company was interested, or from the city administration, either,” she says.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic, all that has changed. Police, municipal and health officials and army personnel are running around everywhere in Rheda-Wiedenbrück these days. All the staff and workers at Tönnies are being tested for the coronavirus, along with some suppliers. So far, there have been more than 1,500 positive test results.

Years of criticism

Bultschnieder first became interested in the cause of the factory workers after sharing a hospital room with a woman from Bulgaria in 2012. The latter told Bultschnieder about the poor working conditions at Tönnies, the excessive overtime hours and the miserable living conditions for the workers.

Bultschnieder set up an action group and organized demonstrations. But little changed at Tönnies, where workers are mostly employed by subcontractors, officially at least. This is one reason it’s difficult to hold the huge meat packing company legally responsible for the sometimes degrading conditions in which its workers live.

Read more: ‘Modern slavery’ at the heart of German slaughterhouse outbreak

“Everyone knew how things were with the workers from Eastern Europe,” says one passerby in the inner city. “And if residents here knew, then the responsible municipal officials, the regional and state politicians and the employees in charge at Tönnies certainly did as well.”

Other people walking past nod in agreement. They’re now afraid the dangerous virus will rapidly spread to the rest of the population, though the Tönnies case was a unique situation. The disease spread as quickly as it did among the workers partly because they were living in such cramped conditions, but also because they stand so close together in the cool air of the meat processing plant.

Pandemic exposes existing problems

“There are people in Rheda-Wiedenbrück who are very willing to help others, the sort that also became involved during the refugee crisis in 2015,” says Gudrun Bauer, who has been a council member for the center-left Social Democrats since 1999.

But she says she has noticed a rise in xenophobia as well, telling of phone calls where residents denounced Tönnies workers for allegedly going to the public swimming pool or supermarket despite quarantine restrictions. Some people were equating the dangers of the coronavirus with people who “look different,” Bauer says. “That worries me.”

The workers from Tönnies live in a number of very different houses throughout Rheda-Wiedenbrück and the many surrounding towns. Bauer points to one house just a few minutes’ walk from the picturesque marketplace with its cafes and restaurants.

Read more: Opinion: Coronavirus outbreak in German slaughterhouse was preventable

Two men are sitting on the balcony of the three-story building, looking into the distance and smoking. The building is under quarantine and they’re not allowed to leave. They come from North Macedonia and don’t speak any German, just a little English.

No one has brought them anything to eat for days, they say. They are unhappy about not being able to call their families at home because they’re not allowed to leave the house, and their rooms don’t have internet. Bauer shakes her head and promises to do something about it.

For Inge Bultschnieder, who has been demonstrating on behalf of the workers for years, it’s no coincidence that politicians like Bauer are now taking up the cause. “Without the coronavirus crisis, a lot of politicians, the Tönnies company and the residents probably wouldn’t care much about the factory workers,” she says.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Big appetite

With climate concerns growing, many people are trying to reduce their environmental impact. Increasingly, they’re turning to plant-based meats — and investors are taking notice. When Beyond Meat debuted on Wall Street in early May, share prices more than doubled the first day. “Investors recognize … a huge business opportunity,” Bruce Friedrich, director of the Good Food Institute, told AFP.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Spot the difference

Backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, meat alternatives including Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger, seen here at left, use new food technology and ingredients like peas, fava beans and soy. Unlike earlier veggie burgers, these meatless patties are said to taste, look, smell and even “bleed” like real meat (the secret is beet juice). They can also be healthier.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Good for the planet

But eating less meat isn’t just a healthy decision. A 2018 WWF report said cutting animal products from diets would be a “relatively easy and cheap way” to fight climate change. A study by the University of Michigan found the Beyond Burger generates 90% less greenhouse gas emissions, requires 46% less energy to produce and has far less of an impact on water scarcity and land use than a beef patty.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Crowded market

Beyond Meat is already sold in thousands of US supermarkets and restaurants, and major brands are also looking for a piece of the action. Nestle launched its take on the beef patty in Europe in April, and Unilever took over Dutch plant-based meat producer The Vegetarian Butcher in late 2018. Burger King is rolling out a Beyond Meat option US-wide, and McDonald’s is testing its own vegan burger.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Not all positive

Industrialized soy crops have been flagged as a contributing factor to widespread deforestation. As Brussels-based environment group Fern points out, more than 1 million square kilometers of land are used to grow soy, almost three times the size of Germany. Only a very small percentag of this, however, is used in meat alternatives. Most goes to animal feed.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Health food?

There are also nutritional concerns about these highly processed foods. Leading brands can have more than double the saturated fat and as much as seven times the amount of sodium as a lean beef burger. And environmental groups are worried about Impossible Burger’s inclusion of GMO yeast, which adds a meaty flavor. Excessive consumption has been linked to cancer — but that goes for real meats too.

Veggie discs and bloody beets: Future of meat

Today’s special: Quorn tubes

In Europe, meat alternatives may soon have to be sold as “discs,” “tubes” and “slabs” as opposed to burgers, sausages and steaks. The EU Parliament’s agriculture committee recently backed a move to ban producers of vegetarian food from using terms that usually describe meat. The full parliament will vote on the measure after the EU elections in late May.

Author: Martin Kuebler