Modern Day Slavery – How German Companies Exploit Foreigners

There was this feature recently on ARD and I thought I would share it. Although the people used in the documentary are not African, I know many Africans who go through the same thing but because our numbers aren’t as high as those of East Europeans, they sometimes overlook the Africans going through the same issues. But we can learn from the others right?

Considering it’s in German, I’ll put in a few points that stood out:

• Foreigners aren’t the ones exploiting the Germans instead it’s the Germans that exploit the foreigners living here
• Working for 10hrs to earn €40
• 6 people live in one room.
• Sometimes these people don’t get paid even after working, e.g. when a company declares bankruptcy
• These workers have to be operated on and are constantly sick from the terrible working conditions
• The law declares that only the exploited have a right to sue these companies. If these workers don’t come out to testify against those that own these companies, nothing can be done to them (owners).
• One of the owners paid the workers €900 per month for 10hrs a day work while he paid himself got a 5 digit salary.
• Most of these workers can’t sue these companies due to loyalty, many consider these people their “saviours” for giving them jobs.
• The German government is doing nothing against this form of slavery, because as Doris from the Frauenzentrum says, “They allow it because the German soceity is the one that profits from this. We all want things to be cheaper”.