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Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The German trade union federation (DGB) in North Rhine-Westphalia criticizes the social security-free employment of harvest workers.
“Without the seasonal workers from Romania, Poland or Bulgaria there would be no asparagus, no strawberries and no wine.
But in agriculture the credo applies: the labor must be cheap, ”said the DGB state chairman, Anja Weber, on Thursday.
With the start of the agricultural season, thousands of harvest workers would come to NRW again this year.
At the end of June last year, more than 12,000 of them were employed in the fields in North Rhine-Westphalia without health, unemployment or pension insurance.
The DGB demands social security protection from the first day of employment.
"We need a collective agreement in which the rights of the employees are guaranteed," said Weber.
According to a decision by the federal government, the regulations for the use of foreign seasonal workers in agriculture are to be expanded this year due to the corona crisis.
By the end of October, helpers should be able to work 102 days instead of 70 days without social insurance.
The Bundestag wanted to vote on it on Thursday evening.
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The DGB criticizes the social security-free employment as an abuse of a regulation originally intended for the vacation time of schoolchildren and students.
In other areas such as warehouse management, delivery and gastronomy, people would have worked for months without social security in the past year according to this regulation.
The majority of these employees also come from Eastern European EU countries.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210422-99-312722 / 2