Background information

During the pandemic, certain industries were at risk of collapse because the borders were closed for foreign workers. It showed that agriculture and forestry, meat processing, private care of the elderly and construction depend on seasonal and posted workers from abroad. Moreover, also the wharf industry and other manufacturing industries depend on posted workers.

Following on public outcries that the supply of meat and vegetables might be affected, government permitted foreign workers to enter the country for work.

Faire Mobilität , a network of consultants for Eastern European workers run by the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) and predominately funded by the Federal Employment Agency, set up a phone hotline for foreign workers in need of support.

Content of measure

Established in 2011, Faire Mobilität today holds nine advisory centers located all over Germany. Social and labour rights experts speaking different languages give comprehensible information and direct support in case of need. Data by the advisory centers indicate that workers contact them because of wage issues or wage theft, lack of information, violations of social rights or health and safety. The consultants provide individual support; big cases involving a number of workers are made public via email newsletters and media contacts.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a particular challenge because mobile workers from abroad are often contained in groups at their employers' premises or they work together with little space for social distancing.

Faire Mobilität runs a standard phone hotline; in face of COVID-19, the hotline was extended to provide information on the workers' rights and obligations with regard to the pandemia but also to give support in case of individual anxieties.

Use of measure

Data on the use of the COVID-19 hotline is not yet available.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Seasonal workers Posted workers Migrants or refugees in employment	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Trade unions	National funds Trade union

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	No involvement
Form	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only trade unions
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Faire Mobilität is a structure set up by the DGB and has the DGB on its steering board. Employers organisations are not involved.

In case any violations of labour rights become known, the sectoral affiliates of DGB will get involved as well. . In case COVID 19 infections become known because of the hotline, Faire Mobilität and the sectoral trade union at local level will contact the labour inspectorate for investigating the occupational safety and health standards and the conditions of housing.

Views and reactions

The trade unions are supportive, the employer organisations are not involved.

Sources

• 24 March 2020: Hotline for Eastern European workers (beratungsstelle-arbeit-heinsberg.de)