Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund

Two Serbian construction workers are dismissed by their employer – because they have been infected with the corona virus. And then he also refuses to pay them their wages. weiterlesen …

To avoid having to pay for his accommodations, Zoran B’s boss sent him back to Romania during the corona crisis. It was actually to be only a brief stay, but then the lockdown was imposed in Romania. The situation turned into a case of massive labour injustice during the corona pandemic. weiterlesen …

Many construction companies are organised within so-called "subcontractor chains". Responsibilities are often unclear in these legal constructs – to the detriment of the workers. weiterlesen …

24 hours a day, 7 days a week: A Bulgarian women worked as a caregiver for two years – with no time off. Now a court has awarded her a 38,000 euros in back pay for the first year. Her case shows that fighting back is worth the effort. weiterlesen …

A Romanian subcontractor pays its employees too little for their work on a German construction site. When they complain, he gives them notice – and goes underground. weiterlesen …

Many people come from Poland to Germany every year to work as nurses. Their working conditions are poor; their fear of fighting the system is great. weiterlesen …

A Bavarian vegetable farm pays its harvest workers much less than the minimum wage. Also, there is no way for them to maintain distance. The farm soon became a corona hotspot – and the farmer turned violent. weiterlesen …

A Romanian seasonal worker breaks his hand while working on a field in Germany. Normally, the employer's liability insurance should now pay compensation for the injury. But then bureaucracy gets in the way. weiterlesen …

Romanian construction workers in Frankfurt am Main, with the aid of IG BAU and Fair Mobility, have enforced part of their claim for unpaid wages out-of-court. This example shows that something can work if the conditions are right. Nevertheless, a bitter aftertaste remains. weiterlesen …

For months, trade unionists from Germany and the Netherlands helped Philippine lorry drivers, who had been exploited in Germany, to enforce their rights. The working conditions encountered by the trade unionists at their first meeting with Philippine drivers in November 2018 exceeded the expected and now very common miserable conditions in the industry: drivers had not seen any accommodation outside their lorry during their entire term of employment in Europe. They had been living in their vehicles for months, always in pairs. In the meantime, back pay for the men has been successfully enforced. weiterlesen …

“24-hour care”, not in an old people's home, but in the familiar home environment: this is the promise an industry that is barely straightforward any more uses to advertise itself. But what sounds like a humane alternative to accommodating old people in nursing homes has an ugly downside to it. The case of a Bulgarian “24-hour carer” the Labour Court in Berlin ruled on in August is one example of what this downside looks like. Ms Alekseva (not her real name), a Bulgarian citizen, had come to Germany as a 24-hour carer and domestic help in June 2013 via a German placement agency. weiterlesen …

Marko Tanasić received a call from a construction worker from Bosnia-Herzegovina who was working in Germany. Hired by a Slovenian employer along with nearly a dozen colleagues, he was working at a construction site near Munich and had run into problems with their accommodation. Tanasić forwarded the enquiry to Dragana Bubulj in Germany who he got to knew through the Fair Posting project. She got in touch with the construction workers and it turned out that they were not only forced to leave their accommodation and sleep at the construction site but also still waiting for part of their wages. Dragana Bubulj and Marko Tanasić decided to issue payment notices for the outstanding wages – to both the Slovenian employer and the Bavarian general contractor. weiterlesen …

In Summer 2017 two Croatian workers visited the Fair Mobility Advisory Centre in Mannheim. They had worked in the metal processing industry in Herten, but had received only a part of their wages. As their employer was a company based in Croatia, Dragana Bubulj and her colleague Sunčica Brnardić from the Croatian Trade Union Confederation in Zagreb got to work immediately. Later on, Marko Tanasić from Slovenia joins the common case work because of the involvement of a Slovenian subcontractor. weiterlesen …

Twelve construction workers appeared at the then Fair Posting Network Advisory Centre in Sofia and claimed that they had been cheated out of their wages. The men had been hired by a Bulgarian company, which then sent them to work in Germany. The Bulgarians had spent the whole summer working in the civil engineering sector in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. weiterlesen …