Working conditions for seasonal workers in Germany are often very harsh. But are violations punished?
Dirty mattresses, a hole in the floor, windows that don't close, a faulty toilet - this is what a dormitory for seasonal workers in the Stuttgart area looks like. Renate Zekel from the Baden-Württemberg Fair Working Conditions Organization tells ARD about it. "Over the years, we have seen many bad dormitories, but this surpasses everything", she commented to the German public media.
Workers accuse, employers deny
Seasonal workers from Romania live in this dormitory. They tell Tsekel, who advises people in their situation, that their work in the fields is very hard. The Romanians pick strawberries and often spend long hours bent over - from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. And they are not paid for all the hours they work. One of the workers reported that he suffered heat stroke and spent ten days in hospital.
The company that employed the Romanian workers denies the accusations they make about working conditions. The company told ARD that the dormitories are "basically cleaned, inspected and maintained before each season". However, the complaints have been taken into account and improvements are planned. "The hours worked are documented and paid in accordance with legal requirements and employment contracts", the employers also specify.
European directive aims to improve the situation
Apart from the case of this particular farm, agricultural workers' unions in Germany have consistently pointed out that working conditions in the sector are particularly difficult. In order to improve the situation - especially for workers who help with the harvest, EU member states approved a special instrument in 2021 - the so-called "coupling principle", which involves tying agricultural subsidies to compliance with basic labor and social standards for those employed in the sector. The regulation is mandatory for all EU countries from 2025.
Subsidy reductions are possible if workers do not have contracts, if they have not received training on workplace safety or do not have sufficient labor protection, such as adequate living conditions, explains the ARD. But violations of the statutory minimum wage and working hours are not covered, which is a subject of criticism from the trade unions.
Countries such as Spain introduced the principle of binding slightly earlier and have since reduced EU subsidies for several hundred agricultural enterprises. In Germany, however, almost nothing of the kind has happened, according to a survey conducted by the ARD among all 16 federal states and the 200 responsible inspection authorities. Almost 95 percent of the occupational safety authorities participated and provided data.
Thousands of violations, only one subsidy reduction
According to the data, 2,536 inspections of agricultural enterprises have been carried out in Germany since 2025 to ensure compliance with occupational safety rules. These inspections revealed 4,993 violations and resulted in 51 fines being imposed. However, only one company had its EU subsidies reduced - a dairy in the Rostock district. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the employee dormitories were in a "horrific" condition. The farm had to pay back around 6,523 euros.
Christian Beck from the IG BAU trade union organization told German public media: "Companies that exploit their workers gain a competitive advantage through illegal practices. They should not receive state funding because their practices are a threat to legitimate businesses.".
However, the German government has so far been reluctant to publicly commit to a position on this issue. At the end of June, Martina Engelhardt-Kopf, the parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, issued a statement stating that "the federal government advocates that the binding rule be abolished" because, according to the government, it leads to "additional administrative burden".