Posting, subcontracting and low-wage employment in the German meat industry

During the last few decades, the German meat industry has experienced an incomparable economic expansion, becoming one of the largest European producers and exporters in the sector. At the same time, Germany, traditionally characterized as a coordinated market economy with strong social partners and labour market institutions, has been nationally as well as internationally criticized for establishing a system of institutional exploitation of mobile and migrant labour in the industry. The aim of this article is to analyse how it was possible to create and maintain such a system under the eyes of social partners and to identify the defining factors for this development.