The conditions in German asparagus crops are catastrophic, according to the annual report on seasonal work.

An issue that comes back every year, at the same time. For the Germans, asparagus is not just a food – they are reminiscent of a national passion … on the bounds of obsession. Every spring, when the asparagus season finally begins, the so -called Spargelzeit, the newspapers write it, the restaurant menus are changing, the discussions revolve around it and begins a form of pilgrimage in front of the sellers’ stalls, set up by the streets.

Asparagus is honored even in presidential tables, such as the one organized during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron last May in Berlin. So the better for lovers of pale vegetable, that this year, due to summer in Germany, his season started earlier. The era of asparagus in Germany, however, comes with publications every year on the destructive working conditions of seasonal workers.

Inappropriate roof, exhausting hours, sexual violence

Tageszeitung is an interview with sociologist Katerina Danilova, responsible for the preparation of the annual report on seasonal work 2024 from the Initiative Faire Landarbeit initiative: “In this year’s exhibition. However, we also find other serious problems, such as infringement of the minimum wage and the exhaustive duration of work. In addition, the often criminal practices of the intermediaries remain without state control. It is also alarming that we are getting more and more complaints about sexual exploitation, ”the expert notes.

The majority of workers, as Danilova reports, come from Romania and works in Germany with short -term contracts, without social security and under extremely precarious conditions. At the same time, the number of seasonal workers and other countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Central Asia, and China. The precision regime is according to her and the main reason why sexual harassment workers do not make complaints: “We learn from their colleagues, often by accident, when we visit the farms to control working conditions. According to the testimonies, caretakers with a steady working relationship exploit their power and force sex workers. “

White asparagus, red strawberries, black work

Of course, these conditions are not only about workers in asparagus crops, but overall seasonal workers in land crops. “Last year, about 241,000 seasonal workers worked in German agriculture – almost one -third of the total rural labor force. Without them, the harvest of asparagus and strawberry would not even be possible, “Danilova tells the interview, adding that” many hours of work are not recorded or paid. A worker can work 12 or even 14 hours a day, but paid for only 8 hours. In other cases, employers “offset” the difference through housing for housing, which they themselves provide – often at prices that even exceed the rates of large cities. “

At the same time, asparagus growers complain that on the one hand they do not find workers for harvesting and on the other that the increase in the minimum wage to 15 euros per hour will give the “finishing blow” to German asparagus, as, according to the Bild newspaper, in the German newspaper, the German newspaper is in the German newspaper.

However, the Taz’s publication on workers’ working conditions brings to the forefront for another year an issue that concerns primarily immigrants and seasonal workers, which neither borders nor a national identity: the issue of labor exploitation, breach of basic rights and tacit.