As reported by the newspaper *Junge Welt*, the current federal government has decided to further worsen conditions for foreign seasonal workers. According to the report, loopholes for driving down wages through deductions for housing have been vastly expanded, and the precarious insurance status has been extended from 70 to 90 days of employment.
Foreign seasonal workers are being exploited even more severely, while German seasonal workers are being pushed out of the local market even further—despite all the lamentations about a lack of skilled workers. This is fueling general labor migration, driving agricultural workers in Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe, from Eastern Europe to Central and Western Europe, and from Central Europe to Switzerland and Scandinavia. Agricultural workers of all nationalities are affected.
The government is thus once again positioning itself as the clear enemy of all agricultural workers. The protest by the DGB unions—whose national leadership, including Yasmin Fahimi, as well as that of IG BAU, led by Robert Feiger, is dominated by SPD members—has been minimal.