Solidarity with the workers in the animal industry
Call from the Alliance Gemeinsam gegen die Tierindustrie for nationwide
action days from 28-31 May
From Thursday 28th to Sunday 31st May we are setting a sign. A sign of
solidarity with the slaughterhouse workers, but also with all the other
workers who have to work under the most adverse conditions for the
profits of a few. And we are setting a sign of protest against the
unrestrained exploitation of animals and nature in the name of profit.
With creative actions in front of slaughterhouses and in public places
we will draw attention for the situation of the workers. We will respect
the health of all of us and observe hygiene measures, but we will
nevertheless leave our mark in public places.
Our demands
With our actions we make it clear that the following immediate measures
are urgently needed now:
– The animal industry must be shut down to prevent further corona infections
– The workers must be financially, socially and healthily safeguarded in
the event of plant closures – at the expense of the corporations
– The workers must be provided with housing that allows for dignified
accommodation that meets the requirements of the corona situation, e.g.
in hotels, holiday homes or vacant apartments. And this not only in
this situation.
But the workers are not only exposed to harsh conditions in times of
Corona. Rather, the workers are exploited to the extreme by the animal
industry in the sense of profit maximization. An end of the precarious
employment of the workers is needed and with it an abolition of contract
and temporary work!
In addition, a comprehensive agricultural turn towards a solidary and
ecological way of production and organisation is long overdue.
Let’s take our protest to the public!
Show your solidarity and draw attention to the exploitation of workers
in the meat industry in various places: by hanging up signs and banners,
by demonstrations in places of exploitation (slaughterhouses and
fattening factories, supermarkets, etc.), bicycle demonstrations or by
chalk marks in the city. Let your ideas run free!
You can tell us your planned actions in advance, and we will draw
attention to them. And please post on your channels under the hashtags
Tierindustrie, #SolidaritätStattFleischindustrie oder #peopleoverprofit
about your action! Pictures, videos or written reports can be sent to
our e-mail address mail@gemeinsam-gegen-die-tierindustrie.org after the
action, then we will publish it on our channels
Until our demands are fullfilled, we will not rest.
Together we are many
Ideas and materials for your actions
Here are some suggestions for slogans:
Shut down Tierindustrie
Schluss mit der Ausbeutung der Arbeiter*innen in der Tierindustrie
Solidarität mit den Arbeiter*innen in der Fleischindustrie / Tierindustrie
Solidarität statt Ausbeutung und Repression
Strukturwandel statt Rettungsschirm
Enteignungen statt Subventionen
Selbstverwaltung statt Ausbeutung
You can find flyers in different languages here: https://gemeinsam-gegen-die-tierindustrie.org/ideen-und-materialien-fuer-eure-aktionen/
The situation of the workers
As in almost every social crisis, the Corona crisis affects especially
the people who are at the bottom of this society – like the migrant
workers in the slaughterhouses and meat processing plants of the meat
industry.
At the same time, the groups of the animal industry are classified as
systemically important, even though the food supply would be able to
survive without them. And they also benefit from additional government
support. This is a scandal!
The workers, on the other hand, cannot even protect themselves from the
virus because of the exploitative working conditions: Lack of protective
equipment, which is denied to them not only during corona times, the
non-compliance of distance rules, health-endangering hard work with
12-hour shifts 6 days a week. In the same way, they are exposed to an
increased risk of infection in the overcrowded collective accommodation
and the overcrowded collective transport vehicles that bring them to work.
Working conditions in the animal industry are worsened by corona and
also in precarious jobs in general. Labour laws are being eroded more
and more, existing rights are effectively even harder to fight for.
Appeals by trade unions and labour rights initiatives demanding the
adoption of measures to protect migrant workers from corona infections
were ignored and the inevitable happened: In slaughter factories, among
others of Vion, Westfleisch, Müller-Fleisch and PHW/Wiesenhof, thousands
of workers have already been infected with corona. As long as
appropriate protective measures are not taken, further outbreaks can be
expected. According to the authorities, however, the companies have the
situation under control and the slaughtering can continue. And that all
for the profit of a few. Only after a public outcry actions was taken
and slaughterhouses were temporarily closed where there was no other
option. As always in the capitalist system, the needs of people, animals
and the environment are irrelevant as long as they stand in the way of
profit.