All is well

The majority of workers in the German dairy industry are members of the NGG. This benefits both companies and employees alike: companies can plan with confidence – backed by a well-organised workforce, the NGG and its members on the collective bargaining committees secure fair wages and better working conditions.

If only the economy in this country consisted solely of milk and dairy products – Germany would be a resource paradise. When it comes to dairy products, we have more of everything here than we need for our own consumption: more milk, more cheese, more butter, more cream and cream products, more condensed milk, skimmed milk powder and buttermilk powder.

“Things are generally going well in the dairy sector, for both companies and employees,” says Thomas Krause. The 56-year-old should know. He has been works council chairman at Deutsches Milchkontor (DMK) in Edewecht, Lower Saxony, for fourteen years and is involved in numerous other roles: on the supervisory board, in DMK works council committees and in the NGG, where he helps shape the union’s policies on the executive committee.

The industry’s gold

Since opening in the 1970s, the current DMK site in Edewecht has grown from 100 employees to over 600 today. In three separate cheese dairies, the dairy technologists mainly produce cheese for the Milram brand as well as numerous private labels. They process the surplus cream into butter. The whey produced during cheese-making is the new flagship product: “Whey used to be more of a by-product,” says Thomas. “Today, it is the gold of the dairy industry. The dairy industry now extracts high-quality proteins from whey, which are used in baby food, sports nutrition and speciality products for the food industry.”

Like many dairy companies, DMK is a cooperative owned by the farming businesses that supply the milk for production. The fact that the majority of employees are NGG members pays off in negotiations with the employer. “This allows the NGG, for example, to take a strong stance in collective bargaining, and together we can secure good pay and good working conditions,” says Thomas. “And because we, as works council members, have such a strong mandate from the workforce, we practise co-determination on an equal footing at DMK and are able to conclude numerous good works agreements with the employer on topics such as IT, further training, shift work and many other issues.”

Many NGG members also in administration

In the Allgäu region, Edelweiss, with a workforce of around 460 colleagues, primarily produces the cheese brands Bresso and Milkana, as well as the spread Brunch. Nadine Salzer trained here as an industrial clerk and was already involved in the youth and trainee representatives’ committee during her apprenticeship. “I was fascinated by the fact that we, as a workforce and a trade union, can achieve so much together.”

That fascination has remained. Today, Nadine is the works council chair at Edelweiss in Kempten. “We also have a great many NGG members in administration; that’s a tradition here,” says the 39-year-old.

This certainly contributes to the good working atmosphere too. “We have our own works sports club with football, cycling, our own bowling alley and beach volleyball, as well as other good social benefits. We on the works council are committed to maintaining this culture.”

Good collectively agreed wages, high efficiency

Edelweiss is a good example of how highly efficient production and good working conditions, such as high collectively agreed wages, can go hand in hand. This is also reflected in a high level of trade union membership. “We are currently integrating two production lines from Hungary and the Czech Republic. Technically, this is still a challenge at the moment,” says Nadine. “But we expect that, with around 40 new employees, we will soon be producing a greater volume of goods far more efficiently than with 200 employees in Hungary and the Czech Republic, whose wages are significantly below our NGG collective agreement rates.”

Thanks to the good pay, Edelweiss is also finding it relatively easy to recruit new staff here in rural Kempten. There were very few applications from industry specialists. The new positions have mainly attracted people changing careers: butchers, bakers and others, including those from the food industry. “However, it was striking that we have recently only hired men in production. In fact, only men actually applied,” says Nadine. “Many women are unable or unwilling to take on a three-shift job, primarily because of the still more traditional division of care work here. We want to address the issue of working hours in general and explore ways to ensure that, through more modern shift systems and shift times, more women can also apply for roles in production.”

A well-oiled machine

Almost every third litre produced by the country’s nearly 50,000 dairy farms is processed by the dairy industry for export: primarily to neighbouring European countries, though Asia is also an important export market. To ensure this continues to run smoothly, a well-oiled machine is required comprising dairy farms, dairies, the dairy industry – and, above all, the employees working there.

This is because milk is a perishable foodstuff subject to high hygiene standards. As soon as the milk leaves the cow, it must be cooled and transported as quickly as possible to a dairy processing plant for further processing. For this reason, and to ensure optimal utilisation of machinery, many dairy processing companies operate 24/7. For the milk collection lorry drivers, dairy technologists, food technologists, plant operators, electricians and mechanics in these companies, this means working shifts around the clock – for some, almost their entire working lives.

The price: shift work

Thomas Krause fondly recalls his time as a power plant electrician working shifts. “I quite enjoyed it back then – having a bit of ‘me-time’ just for myself in the mornings before the late or night shift, alongside family and work, for example to do some sport.” But he also knows: “You have to be able to handle shift work and enjoy it. I don’t think I’d still enjoy it today. Because the older your colleagues get, the more stressful it becomes. Those who work shifts give up large parts of their social life and face significantly greater health risks than those who don’t.” In return, DMK in Edewecht offers shift allowances, some of which are paid net, as regulated in the NGG collective agreement. A 50 per cent bonus, for example, on Saturdays from 13:00, all day on Sundays and at night between 20:00 and 05:00.

Insolvency overcome

Stefanie Schädler works at Töpfer, also in the Allgäu region. After completing her training, the dairy laboratory technician earned less than a new colleague who was doing the same job as her. Although the colleague had a degree and was a dairy laboratory technician, she was unfamiliar with the company’s processes. This disappointed her: “It can’t be right that our own trained employees are paid less than external staff who are new to the company and still need to be trained.” This, too, motivated Stefanie to stand for election to the works council.

She seems to have made an impression on her nearly 150 colleagues: they elected her to the works council in 2018, and the now 30-year-old has been the works council chair for four years. Then, two years ago, came the shock: the then family-run business filed for insolvency under its own administration. “I had to join the creditors’ committee and also negotiate a social plan with a reconciliation of interests for the 27 employees who left the company,” says the works council chair. “Fortunately, the NGG and the works councils here in the Allgäu region supported me greatly.”

A difficult path, but one that has also helped her grow. “I’ve grown from that,” says Stefanie. The works council chair has achieved and secured a great deal with her network: “We have the good regional pay agreement and the framework collective agreement. The NGG negotiates both with employers in the Bavarian dairy industry.” Stefanie’s next priority: “I want to organise working hours better for everyone and make them more predictable.”

The European mega-player emerges

More than three and a half million dairy cows produce an average of 30 litres of milk every day across the country. It is highly likely that an even larger proportion of this will soon go to Germany’s largest dairy processing company. This is because Deutsche Milchkontor, currently Germany’s largest cooperative, is on the verge of its next major step: DMK is expected to merge with the Danish-Swedish company Arla Foods – the fifth-largest player in the German market – to form what will then be by far the largest European company. Thomas Krause isn’t worried: “This is a huge amount of work for us as the works council,” says the qualified electrician. “But DMK is a company with a strong culture of co-determination. We want to preserve that. To ensure this goes well, we have the NGG, which has supported us very well throughout this process at both Arla and DMK.”