by itself tells a different history of the world than seeing does. it's for listening not for dancing a new experience for the bare kinds patrons. at a time when the future of music clubs is less than certain that their kind is finding new ways to draw in the crowds. you're watching t.v. news we'll have more headlines as always at the top of the out. if we journey is full of surprises moved on it all out. to give you some tips going to get in the footsteps of the great we've. been here in northern most towns a place of stray. dogs. for

a time who want to still very much alive until you travel guide to specialists in germany to. recognize where exactly. was fun and learning a lot of current culture history in. detail when you travel extremely worth a visit. before inspections our bosses said get your mosques on and keep your mouth shut and don't say a word even if you speak german alex speak from romania worked for germany's biggest meat producer turn yes unpaid overtime no protection from the coronavirus poor living conditions experience is shared by tens of thousands of contract workers in

germany where they include fruit picker mariana. how can this abuse be happening. alex b. is actually a pseudonym and he does not want us to show his face still he's braver than others we asked dozens of workers in the german meat industry for an interview but most of them declined for fear of losing their jobs alex being knows what that's like until recently he was working on a processing line at 10 years. my quit because they were unfair to us overpayment they stiffed us on over time instead of 8 hours with a 45 minute break we worked 10 to 13 hours a day after that you finished mentally. alex

says this is a matter of course in the meat industry workers are paid according to set targets of the units produced and that can barely be achieved in 8 hours the system is intrinsically exploitative and those who complain lose their jobs right away says alex p. . he adds that other german labor standards aren't met either. we work in a cold environment the conveyor belt goes really fast and you break a sweat somewhere because. many were threatened that if they got sick one more time they'd be fired that's absurd it says in the contract that you have the right to be written. now to news is being investigated for violating a law requiring employers to prevent the spread of infectious diseases but alex

b s contract wasn't with the meat producer itself he signed up to work for a subcontractor an external company that takes on some of 10 years production most of the workers come from southeastern europe the terms of employment are dictated by the subcontractor meaning that it ultimately has responsibility for the working conditions rather than the meat producer. germany's worst coronavirus. perhaps one reason is that workers stand shoulder to shoulder on production lines and they live in overcrowded dormitories. no one told us that $10.00 to $12.00 people would be living together in a single apartment imagine an apartment with 2 bedrooms with a living room filled with bunk beds for sleeping and it has one bathroom and a kitchen. there workers paid between $2250.00 euros

a month to live in an apartment that is cramped filthy and even moldy and that during the coronavirus pandemic. we are showing similar photos by another native. he works for the german trade union confederation. advising contractual ensued. you know workers from southeastern europe many of them work for sub contractors who says these companies are buying up houses to accommodate workers and that's causing problems locally. in the german state of north rhine-westphalia for example subcontractors are buying so much real estate that the prices are being driven up. the people who live there can no longer afford to buy their own homes. and that's not the only reason the sub contracting system is being so hotly debated but how does it actually work in the meat industry for example. if company

x. doesn't have enough personnel the workers through an external service provider company why that's the sub contractor who takes on production at company x. the workers therefore are under contract with the sub contractor even though they are working at company x. . and if company y. doesn't have enough people then it hires them from companies called as a contractor. i mean. this worker can't complain directly instead he's got to work it out with a subcontractor that's when the main company says what happens down here is no longer my problem. these networks are often impenetrable and difficult to monitor nevertheless in germany a social welfare state should not be possible to check on how workers are housed

and what their working conditions are like and on who says yes in theory the german customs and health authorities are responsible for that yet things don't always go as they should at inspection time he cites one example in bavaria. all of the drive toward each of the 3 visits made by customs inspectors were announced ahead of time . by this curious that looks like this could happen with the customs authority because crazy if there's a mole there giving the game away or and be the end of it it's not just the one customs office in central franconia instead but there's a whole level at which this information is being gathered would do therefore much want to get on with. our companies actually being warned on a large scale that's a serious allegation we asked the central customs authority if they know about such cases of announced inspections their response we have no evidence of that.

we travel to romania most of the contractual and seasonal workers in germany come from the poorest parts of the country many villages here are practically depopulated as is to be needed in southern romania. mariana caused a i spent about 2 months working as a fruit picker on a farm in the area she says she couldn't stand it any longer before that she'd worked in italy for 13 years. while she was away her children stayed at home with their grandmother. would take a little job simple but i couldn't accept sleeping 8 to a room and that people would share one bathroom with a kitchen for 30 people give us an almost the full time we wanted to give. her

greatest fear was catching the coronavirus. i have only one mask if i'd known that we wouldn't get any masks from our employer during corinth i'd have taken 2 or 3 more sometimes i even wore it when it was when. i was afraid to go to see many bones but with 14 or 15 people in it some of them standing a few on the floor and some sitting on others. germany's covert 1000 protection rolls should have applied to the eastern european fruit pickers. in germany at the bavarian farm where mariana picked strawberries we tried to get a look behind the scenes. we asked the farm operator but he doesn't want to speak to us. he refused every request for an interview.

in april 2020 germany's coronavirus lockdown was in force streets were empty the borders were closed and planes were grounded nevertheless berlin and bucharest agreed to make an exception to address the massive shortage of agricultural workers in germany. tens of thousands of harvest workers came aboard charter flights from romania to germany mariano was on one of them today she regrets it. i went back home with almost no money and i was sick. and i had to pay more than $100.00 euros for a doctor and antibiotics. and the job she just took her commission she didn't help at all. in marianas case the broker wasn't a company just a private individual she charged $300.00 euros for mariano's travel costs and $150.00 as a fee. that's

a double violation of the law job brokers in romania aren't allowed to charge commissions to check this we call a romanian company with online offers of good jobs in german farming we ask about one job in here that it involves strawberry picking on the field or in greenhouses and that the contract costs $100.00 euros that is a fee we're told the pay is $9.00 euros $35.00 an hour 10 hours a day we ask about accommodations the answer is for people to a room the bed costs $6.00 euros 90 a day to be taken out of our wages and the bus trip there and back costs $240.00 euros just one short phone call and we've already uncovered an illegal fee as well as overtime and transport to get out in prices. reports of rising numbers of coded $1000.00 cases that farms and meat processing plants in germany have forced

policymakers there to act the country's labor minister. has pledged to ban contract labor in the meat processing industry as of 2021 but why isn't sub contracting being prohibited in other sectors of the economy where similar things are going on in farming for example the minister dodges the question. the coronavirus is a magnifying glass we're seeing things that were already problematic before we've got sectors where it's a matter of monitoring occupational safety and we will impose stricter binding standards so that we're able to go more strongly into these areas that tend to be risky in the german parliament green party member. has been demanding tougher inspections for years in order to stop systematic exploitation. what i'm not satisfied with at all is the inspections at the moment the idea is just to agree quotas that's too little because even if we contract it doesn't automatically mean

that there are good working conditions that slaughter houses what we need is good monitoring so the draft law doesn't go far enough for me to. marry on a cost didn't wait for the improvements she has had enough of germany and is looking for work in italy again you know never go back to germany not on vacation not to visit never. meanwhile alex has found another job in germany he tells us he's willing to try again. if i have problems again in the contract isn't respected then i'll go back home what use is it to me if they just keep the ducting money and i end up earning as little as i would in romania. alex the one working in the german meat industry but he's determined not to be exploited.

2 for him writing is an act of liberation. 5 for a novelist it's a tremendously interesting that years in all of our lives characters are asked for something going on that's maybe obvious except if they don't notice the artist coming in the top then the irish writer and an exclusive interview interview are 20000000. d.w. . inside the real saudi arabia. the john journalist from london undertakes a bone fracture. looking for her roots she travels to a country where progress on tradition are often in conflict and often about

why i have to be. confronted. w. . i'm not laughing at the germans because sometimes i am but most end up in with the people germany thinks deep into german culture. nudity will take this ground down east coast it's all out there no time rachel join me for me to get on the golf course. if you don't talk often about things that really matter to people often just go quiet about it which is just and that's why a book that deals with that becomes a way of breaking a silence.