The Influence of the Discursive Power of Unions in the Swift Re-regulation of Slaughterhouse Labour during the COVID-19 Crisis in Germany

Abstract

The article analyses the re-regulation of labour in the German meat industry during the COVID-19 crisis. While working and employment conditions have long been criticised with only minor results, the massive coronavirus outbreaks in German slaughterhouses led to a rapid reform of work in the meat industry. We argue that unions were able to exert influence on policy-makers based on the discursive power that they accumulated prior to COVID-19, but that they needed to adapt their framing strategies by including public health concerns to their criticism. That was possible because the outbreaks endangered local residents as well as the slaughterhouse workers, which decisively increased the pressure on policy-makers. The article contributes to the approach of discursive power resources and strategic framing by unions, and elaborates the relevance of the process of gaining discursive power over time as well as the unforeseeable changes that can dramatically increase a union’s chances of political influence. KEYWORDS: coronavirus; COVID-19; power resources; unions; meat industry

After Arbeitsschutzkontrollgesetz. Strikes and Organic Intellectuals in the German Meat Industry

“…The strikes in 2021 were boosted by the direct employment in slaughterhouses of former subcontracted migrant workers. The direct employment was made possible by the passing of Arbeitsschutzkontrollgesetz (ASKG) ("Occupational Safety and Health Inspection Act") at the end of 2020, after public outrage about the working and living conditions revealed by the extensive media coverage of the Covid-19 outbreaks in slaughterhouses (Ban et al, 2022;Cosma et al, 2020;Seeliger, & Sebastian, 2022). ASKG put an end to service contract work (Werkverträge) in slaughterhouses with a minimum of 50 employees starting on January 1 st and to temporary agency work (Leiharbeit) starting on the 1 st of April 2021.…”

“…Coalition-building in other sectors of the German economy dominated by precarious migrant labour have also proven relatively successful (Wunderlich, & Sommer, 2022;Lackus, & Schell, 2021). However, in the case of the meat industry, neither the introduction of a minimum wage, nor the passing of the ASKG has been directly attributed to the union's new forms of engagement, but rather to conjectural situations (Ban et al, 2022;Kuhlmann, & Vogeler, 2020;Seeliger, & Sebastian, 2022).…”

After Arbeitsschutzkontrollgesetz. Strikes and organic intellectuals in the German meat industry

“…The strikes in 2021 were boosted by the direct employment in slaughterhouses of former subcontracted migrant workers. Direct employment was made possible by the passing of the Arbeitsschutzkontrollgesetz (ASKG) (Occupational Safety and Health Inspection Act) at the end of 2020, after public outrage about the working and living conditions revealed by extensive media coverage of the Covid-19 outbreaks in slaughterhouses (Ban et al 2022;Cosma et al 2020;Seeliger and Sebastian 2022). ASKG put an end to service contract work (Werkverträge) in slaughterhouses with a minimum of 50 employees starting on 1 January 2021 and to temporary agency work (Leiharbeit) starting on the following 1 April.…”

“…Coalition-building in other sectors of the German economy dominated by precarious migrant labour has also proven relatively successful (Wunderlich and Sommer 2022; Lackus and Schell 2021). However, in the case of the meat industry, neither the introduction of a minimum wage nor the passing of the ASKG has been directly attributed to the union's new forms of engagement, but rather to conjectural situations (Ban et al 2022;Kuhlmann and Vogeler 2020;Seeliger and Sebastian 2022).…”