CAN ORGANIC BE FAIR?
Why do you buy organic food?
Because it's healthier. And, of course, it's important for Ella.
Because actually I still think it's healthier,
but I'm not quite sure if that's really the case.
But... at any rate, I'm taken in by the great organic story.
How do you imagine the working conditions in the organic industry?
No idea about that. To be honest, I never thought about it.
I suppose, when the farms are still relatively small,
the working conditions are better. And when the farms grow bigger,
I can imagine that it's similar to other companies:
that working conditions vary.
But I know that the organic standards themselves...
What we thought to be organic in the 80s and 90s...
The standards today don't necessarily correspond with
this idea of "organic" that was developed back then.
This may also be true for the working conditions,
isn't this the idea behind the question?
Organic food doesn't make the world a better place.
Why should it? At last, it has become just another industry:
it's about profits and stuff, that's clear.
Organic, fair and regional - for me, has to go together.
Offering Chilean grapes in a wholefood shop is completely idiotic.
There's a whole bunch of expectations with organic goods:
that they taste better, be healthier and fairer.
I wonder if all these can be met. This is probably too ambitious.
THE STRUGGLE AT TELTOWER RÜBCHEN - AN ISOLATED CASE?
My name is Conchita and I'm from Berlin. At the moment
I'm doing an apprenticeship to become a horticulturalist.
I'm working on an organic farm called "Teltower Rübchen",
which is situated south of Berlin. So, I got in touch with FAU,
because my boss wanted to pay me in kind (with vegetables),
although my pay is very low already.
So first of all I went to
the legal advice service which was held once a week.
And they then
told me where to go to the syndicate.
My name is Andreas Förster, I've been in FAU for 11 years.
Once a week we open up our bureau where
there are lawyers present for an hour.
This was when the apprentice came to see us.
Teltower Rübchen is a small horticultural firm in Teltow
near Berlin. We estimate that there are 10 people working there,
that's to say the farmer and his family and
some other people on the field and part-time employees on the markets,
which are twice a week, and finally, and one apprentice.
I'm there for 30 hours a week.
Wednesday and Saturday. I'm on the market.
Friday, there's harvesting for the whole day.
In fact I'm just doing unskilled work.
This is why I'm learning so little, and
additionally the apprenticeship is very badly paid.
You're getting no more than 160 euros net, and
you're just doing
things that seasonal workers are normally doing.
My name is Axel Szilleweit, I'm responsible for this enterprise,
the fruit and vegetable farm "Teltower Rübchen".
We said that, at the moment, we don't want to offer apprenticeships.
The case with Conchita was a special one because
in the end... apart from the fact that she came here, in tears,
not knowing where to go, she was urgently looking for
a more advanced job, an apprenticeship.
But we told her about the present conditions,
we pointed that out, and she took note of that
and in spite of this, she signed the contract.
This contract is not for a state-approved apprenticeship,
it's not recognised by the State, but it's a free apprenticeship.
The apprentice earned 160 euros net when she contacted the FAU...
Yes.
How can you end up with that wage after a 30-hour-week?
Exactly, it's a part-time contract. Because she did...
It has been her demand, or, as you can't call it a demand,
at least, it was her precondition for the contract,
not to work 50 hours a week as she used to do on other farms,
but she wanted to work part-time: 30 hours.
So we adjusted the pay accordingly, so to speak.
A former co-apprentice of mine
once told me, that she did not
have health insurance there.
So I called my health insurance company,
to ask if he's paying insurance contributions for me.
And I also asked about the pension contributions.
And they told me that there was no registration at all for me for 2011...
The pay is very poor, hardly anything is formalized,
there are no written agreements, no written working instructions,
there are neither sanitation nor warm water...
When working on the field, working there in autumn and
still working there in winter... He is just muddling through.
This is not a problem.
Everybody is free to do what he or she wants to.
But when he's employing people, he has to respect social standards.
The Free Workers Union (FAU) Berlin is standing here today
demanding a standard apprentice wage and
proper conditions for the apprenticeship
in the organic farm called "Teltower Rübchen".
This organic farm has a stand here, in the International Green Week fair.
First there were letters sent,
and then there was a first meeting with my boss,
which was arranged quite quickly.
He then made some promises, which he did not respect at first...
All his business partners have been informed.
The heritage association for "Teltow turnips", for instance,
and politicians of the Greens and the Left town hall group, too.
But there's been no answer.
So we did our first public action on the "Heldenmarkt",
which is a small fair at Ostbahnhof for organic and sustainable goods.
The clients react by saying
organic goods have to be fair in a way, you know...
It's not enough that the goods are just
not sprinkled with chemicals, but
they also should be produced in a sustainable way,
sustainably in an ecological and in a human sense.
That is, not to wear out all the work force.
This is a quite small firm, and it's all about one person,
could you explain what your position is in all this?
That is, what's the point in fighting for one single person?
You might be surprised that we make such efforts for one individual
and dozens of people are leafletting, preparing things,
making declarations and stuff.
Of course, we try not to focus only on our member, but
we contacted the other employees, we learned about their situation.
And of course, we offered to support them all as a whole.
Unfortunately, they weren't willing to do this,
they judged the risk as too high, and they said:
Let's leave it at that,
but we sympathize with your cause, and it's good
you're doing something for Conchita.
Surprisingly, my boss has been
relatively composed. He did not yell or get aggressive.
I was quite amazed about this.
But his wife, who is the opposite of him,
she really tried to hound me out of the firm,
by giving me lectures
and telling me off, or by
staying stuff like "You're going over your lunch break" or
"You're too lazy" or
"Hurry up or there'll be a kick up the arse".
The question is, do you agree
that you have another kind of responsibility, as an employer,
than you would have if you were working only with family members
... families often put up with bad working conditions and pay.
Don't you have special duties, as soon as you act as an employer?
What's "bad conditions and pay"? You can't...
Paying 202 euros gross for a 30 hours week, that's
far below the level you can live on for instance.
This is simply an incredibly poor wage.
Yes, but 30... It's not a poor... In this context, bad is relative.
People who are going to work in organic farming
are expected to bring some sort of idealism with them.
You told the local newspaper: "Sales in organic vegetables
are not high enough to be fair to all the people involved."
Could you explain this? - Fair means, on the one hand,
if you're sticking to the classic conditions,
say, a fair wage, and really tough working conditions,
then you shouldn't expect
to have a varied apprenticeship at the same time.
When you have and want to have a variety,
by renouncing the genetical manipulation of the products,
when you want to resist
the ever growing agrarian industrialization,
and don't want be part of that,
this supposes that all the people who are part of the farm,
that they, accordingly, deal with things in an idealistic manner.
Our demand is clear: having the right to a collective pay agreement,
520 euros wage as an apprentice. This is not much, but
it is more than double what Conchita is getting paid now.
How one might create fair conditions in this industry?
What is necessary for that?
What's necessary, in the first instance is
a social re-organisation in the whole of society, this is the basic condition.
It's a political question that we can't - I already said -
that it cannot be realized by our firm.
If we would, so to speak,
take ourselves down to the same level:
same working time, same conditions, same pay,
I could give up the firm and the question would be solved.
He says, he can't afford it. We can't verify his claims,
we're always told: "I can't afford it!"
As I said, it's not our problem whether he can afford it or not.
As soon as he employs people, he has to pay them adequately.
Why are you engaging in this struggle?
Because I think,
my boss has treated too many people in this way,
and this has to stop.
When nobody stops him, then
he'll just keep carrying on like this.
Do you also enjoy doing this, not putting up with it, and
stirring up trouble along with the FAU?
You could say that! A bit of a feeling of revenge, that's nice.
Subtitles: labournet.tv, 2013.