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The owners of Europe’s largest meat-processing plant must be held to account for a mass coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 1,500 of its workers, Germany’s labour minister has said.
Hubertus Heil said an entire region had been “taken hostage” by the factory’s failure to protect its employees, most of whom come from Romania and Bulgaria.
Germany’s coronavirus reproduction or R rate leapt to 2.88 over the weekend largely as a result of the outbreak at the plant at Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). About 7,000 people have been sent into quarantine as a result of the outbreak, and schools and kindergartens in the region that had been gradually reopened have been forced to close until at least after the summer holidays.
Health authorities have accused Tönnies, the family-run business that owns the plant, of breaking regulations around physical distancing that were introduced to dampen the spread of coronavirus. Authorities say Tönnies has also been reluctant to give them access to workers’ contact details, allegedly hampering the tracking and tracing of the workers and their contacts. Tönnies said delays in handing over personnel data had been due to Germany’s strict data protection laws.
Poor conditions in meat plants fuel Covid-19 outbreaks, say unions
Clemens Tönnies, the company’s billionaire CEO, held a press briefing at the weekend at which he apologised for his company’s management of the crisis, and said it would take “full responsibility” for what had to be done to combat it. Within his own family there have also reportedly been attempts to oust him from his role. He has ruled out resigning.
Heil said trust in the company was “precisely zero”, accusing Tönnies of endangering not only its workers but also public health in general. Authorities in the region are considering introducing curfews in the vicinity in an effort to stop the virus from spreading further. The 17.93 million population of NRW, Germany’s most populous state, may have to be placed under a fresh lockdown, Armin Laschet, the state leader, said.
“It cannot be ruled out at the moment,” he said.
“We have closed schools and kindergartens, which is the first stage in a lockdown, and we will examine other measures in the coming days,” Laschet added.
The developments have been described as a massive psychological blow for the state’s citizens who like elsewhere in Germany had been adjusting to an easing of lockdown rules in recent weeks. Heil said he could understand the “level of fury” in the region.
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Hubertus Heil said an entire region had been “taken hostage” by the factory’s failure to protect its employees, most of whom come from Romania and Bulgaria.
Germany’s coronavirus reproduction or R rate leapt to 2.88 over the weekend largely as a result of the outbreak at the plant at Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). About 7,000 people have been sent into quarantine as a result of the outbreak, and schools and kindergartens in the region that had been gradually reopened have been forced to close until at least after the summer holidays.
Health authorities have accused Tönnies, the family-run business that owns the plant, of breaking regulations around physical distancing that were introduced to dampen the spread of coronavirus. Authorities say Tönnies has also been reluctant to give them access to workers’ contact details, allegedly hampering the tracking and tracing of the workers and their contacts. Tönnies said delays in handing over personnel data had been due to Germany’s strict data protection laws.
Poor conditions in meat plants fuel Covid-19 outbreaks, say unions
Clemens Tönnies, the company’s billionaire CEO, held a press briefing at the weekend at which he apologised for his company’s management of the crisis, and said it would take “full responsibility” for what had to be done to combat it. Within his own family there have also reportedly been attempts to oust him from his role. He has ruled out resigning.
Heil said trust in the company was “precisely zero”, accusing Tönnies of endangering not only its workers but also public health in general. Authorities in the region are considering introducing curfews in the vicinity in an effort to stop the virus from spreading further. The 17.93 million population of NRW, Germany’s most populous state, may have to be placed under a fresh lockdown, Armin Laschet, the state leader, said.
“It cannot be ruled out at the moment,” he said.
“We have closed schools and kindergartens, which is the first stage in a lockdown, and we will examine other measures in the coming days,” Laschet added.
The developments have been described as a massive psychological blow for the state’s citizens who like elsewhere in Germany had been adjusting to an easing of lockdown rules in recent weeks. Heil said he could understand the “level of fury” in the region.
Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
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