Five years ago, the German government enacted the Occupational Health and Safety Inspection Act (Arbeitsschutzkontrollgesetz, ASKG), a pivotal piece of legislation for the nation’s meat industry. The law prohibited the use of subcontracted labour and significantly curtailed temporary agency work, aiming to dismantle a business model largely built on the exploitation of migrant workers. A recent study has now confirmed that this ban has led to substantial improvements in working conditions.
With the ASKG taking effect on 1 January 2021, the long-standing practice of subcontracting in the meat industry came to an end. Previously, thousands of workers, predominantly migrants from Eastern Europe, were employed through opaque subcontracting chains, which diffused accountability and undermined labour rights. Since the law’s introduction, all formerly subcontracted workers have been directly employed by meat-processing companies. Data from the Federal Statistical Office reveals that in 2021, the number of regular employees in the industry rose by more than 23,000 — an increase of about 18 percent compared to the previous year.
One of the ASKG’s primary objectives was to enhance worker health and safety. By making companies directly responsible for their employees, legal standards became universally enforceable. Before the ban, subcontracting firms reported at least twice as many workplace accidents, and it is widely acknowledged that not all incidents were officially reported. The arbitrary handling of workplace accidents, once widespread in the industry, has now been considerably reduced. This impact is most evident in accident statistics: reported work accidents have significantly decreased since 2021, indicating better enforcement of safety regulations.
The legislation also sought to improve the housing and living conditions of migrant workers, many of whom relied on company-provided accommodation. Before the ASKG, these workers often resided in extremely poor housing with exorbitant rents, managed by former subcontractors. Now, large meat companies provide their own company flats, which they also control, leading to a considerable improvement in housing standards.
With the direct hiring of former contract workers, the primary companies are now responsible for monitoring compliance with legal labour regulations. This task must be fulfilled by both management and worker representation within the company. Many previously widespread illegal practices have ceased, particularly concerning working hours. Before the subcontracting ban, meat workers frequently endured extremely long hours, often unpaid. The ASKG, which includes the introduction of electronic time tracking, has significantly reduced excessive and unpaid overtime.
The meat industry remains a distinct low-wage sector, primarily due to its highly fragmented collective agreement structure and very low collective bargaining coverage. Two-thirds of workers are still not covered by collective agreements, and many continue to earn only slightly above the statutory minimum wage. Following the ASKG’s introduction, the German Food Workers Union secured a sector-wide minimum wage agreement for the entire meat industry in 2021. However, this initial wage was set at a relatively low level and was soon surpassed by the general statutory minimum wage. Recent attempts to negotiate a new collective agreement in 2025 have, thus far, been unsuccessful.
A Model for Other Industries
The ASKG, with its ban on subcontracting, represents a far-reaching legal intervention in the meat companies’ former business model. Nonetheless, a recent legal opinion confirms that the ASKG complies with both the German constitution and EU law. It enhances transparency, ensures legal accountability, and strengthens worker protection. In Germany, it is considered a potential model for other industries plagued by similar conditions, such as logistics, cleaning, or care work, provided certain criteria are met.
For a possible transfer to other sectors to comply with German and EU law, the legal expertise suggests the following conditions must be fulfilled:
- In the sector, services within the core area of activity are largely provided by external personnel.
- This use of external personnel leads to a lack of transparency and unclear responsibilities, for instance, because the structure and type of service provision are largely determined by the contracting companies, or because the coexistence of different forms of employment makes allocation considerably more difficult.
- A large proportion of employees are highly vulnerable, for example, due to their residence status, level of education, or language skills.
- There is a considerable amount of illegal employment and violations of mandatory minimum working conditions in the sector.
- Compliance with labour protection regulations cannot be adequately ensured in the sector, for example, due to the aforementioned lack of transparency resulting from the extensive use of external personnel.
- Due to the structural conditions of the industry, abuse cannot be adequately countered with collective labour law instruments.
- There are no milder, similarly effective enforcement instruments available.
- The sector or sub-sector can be delimited with legal certainty.
Implications for Europe
Currently, the European Parliament is preparing its own initiative report on abusive subcontracting practices across the EU. It is highly probable that the Parliament will call on the Commission to initiate legal measures to protect and strengthen workers’ rights in subcontracting chains and to provide for the possibility of limiting the use of subcontractors. This initiative is supported by European trade unions, which have already put forward proposals for an EU Directive on Subcontracting and Labour Intermediaries. The experience in the German meat industry has demonstrated that, in some cases, even a ban on subcontracting can be a suitable instrument to combat extreme forms of exploitation.
Şerife Erol is a senior researcher at the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) at the Hans Böckler Stiftung.
Anneliese Kärcher is doctoral candidate in labour law with a focus on social law at the University of Oldenburg and Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
Thorsten Schulten is Head of the collective agreements archive of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) at the Hans Böckler Stiftung. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.
Manfred Walser is Professor of Labour Law and Business Private Law at Mainz University of Applied Sciences.