Since the beginning of the pandemic, the slaughterhouses, the germans are proving to be deadly contamination outbreaks. This time, it is Tönnies, the largest slaughterhouse in Europe, which is massively affected. On the 1 106 employees who have already been tested, 730 are carriers of the virus, and were immediately placed in quarantine. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg. In the coming days, all employees of the company, being 5 350 additional people will be tested. For the moment, the employees of Tönnies are confined to the interior of the plant, which is expected to continue running for a few days, the time to tear down and transform the beasts that are still there. But the rates have been slowed down and the number of employees present on the production lines has been limited to the strict minimum. As a precautionary measure, the authorities of the Land have ordered the closure of kindergartens and schools that had just reopened their doors after several weeks of confinement.
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the emergence of The virus within this powerful business family of Westphalia, which represents 30 % of the meat market in Germany posed a series of questions of a hygienic nature, and ethics. If it is proved that low temperatures, humidity, and the confinement of several persons who are unable to observe the distance of 1.5 m required in refrigerators giant, can promote the spread of the coronavirus, the working conditions and the accommodation extremely rudimentary of the workforce at the low price used by Tönnies are undoubtedly determining factors additional. A lot of temporary agency workers under employment contract rudimentary fixed-term come from the countries, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. The accommodation allocated to them are unsanitary and cramped, which contributed to the rapid spread of the virus. The Covid-19 has ignited an old internal quarrel that rips the family Tönnies for years. The uncle, Clemens Tönnies (64 years old), and nephew, Robert Tönnies (42 years old), are the owners of the company at 50 % each. Since 2017, Robert Tönnies argues for a radical change of course in the management of the company. This requires in particular that should be abolished, such contracts that force workers to accept working conditions and housing are unacceptable. His uncle stubbornly refuses. Today, Robert Tönnies calls for an outright resignation of the patriarch. He accused the management and the advisory board of Tönnies, in acting irresponsibly, endangering the business and the population of the region.
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in The month of may already, the virus had wreaked havoc in other slaughter-houses of Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein. Hundreds of people had been contaminated. The minister of Labour Hubertus Heil (SPD) was then strengthened controls and prohibits, among others, those employment contracts to be impaired. The government had quickly approved a series of measures to improve the working conditions in slaughterhouses : more controls, regulation of working time and minimum quality of the housing. The men and women who came from eastern Europe were to be informed in their native language on their working conditions. At term, the government aims to remove these contracts in the interim. They should be abolished on the 1st of January next. The ministry of Labour, it is claimed today work hard to establish a new catalogue of rules. Hubertus Heil wants to strengthen in the course of the summer the legislation on slaughterhouses.
This nasty affair has also triggered a mini-political scandal. Armin Laschet, minister-president of Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia and a candidate to succeed Angela Merkel, has openly suspected that these European workers Is having ” imported virus “. After the reopening of the borders at the beginning of the month, many are those who have returned to the country to visit their family. A little phrase that has made an outcry in Germany. Armin Laschet was quick to backtrack.
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