Get off of our colleagues – same wage for same work!
The trade union “Initiative Grüne Gewerke” (IGG FAU) has reacted with dismay and anger to the proposals for exceptions to the minimum wage made by Farmers’ Association President Rukwied and Federal Agriculture Minister Rainer. The union is threatening with actions, calling for a general change in policy and an equalization of working conditions for seasonal workers. It is also demanding €15 as the minimum wage for all employees in the sector.
Migrant seasonal workers in particular make up around a third of agricultural workers in Germany. They mainly work in labor-intensive specialty crops and small to medium-sized farms. They already belong to the occupational group with the lowest pay, the longest working days and the most (often fatal) accidents. The IGG is calling for a complete harmonization of working conditions for migrant seasonal workers in terms of social insurance, wages and employment rights, among other things. In its company policy paper in May 2025, the union decided by ballot to fight for €15 as a minimum wage for all employees in the horticulture, forestry, agriculture and environmental sectors.
“Rukwied’s Initiative and the CDU’s support are simply disgusting and legally untenable. If both otherwise do everything they can to give agricultural corporations an advantage over small farms, they can only imagine supposed relief for these farms on the backs of the hardest-working and most vulnerable employees in agriculture. At the same time, they are tapping into the racist and nationalist attitudes of the right-wing section of the farming community,” says Jasmin Hofer, spokesperson for the IGG and herself a minimum wage worker in vegetable growing.
Meanwhile, small and medium-sized farms need other support: protection against land being bought up by speculators, support for small-scale, organic production methods, breaking retail monopolies when it comes to setting prices. “If the unequal treatment of migrant seasonal workers continues, all agricultural workers will lose out, including those who should not be exempt from the minimum wage, as they will no longer be able to find jobs or their negotiating position will be weakened. The current initiative is likely to be one of the most violent attacks on the employees of an entire sector in Germany in recent years. We call on all colleagues in the industry to organize against this audacity!”
The IGG is calling for the long overdue dismissal of farmers’ association president Rukwied, is calling on farmers to organize in other associations and is preparing for both company and political action in the event of minimum wage undercutting.