FROM LOBSTER TO HAMBURGERS

From room service to chefs, bartenders and food delivery drivers – what do these diverse jobs in hotels and restaurants have in common? A smile is always expected, but the pay is sometimes not enough to live on. Where employees have a say, wages and working conditions are better.

Julia Warkentin and Robert Snyder are angry. The chair of the Lieferando works council and her deputy are fighting against the dismissal of hundreds of colleagues. Last year, Lieferando management terminated the contracts of almost 2,000 permanent riders – food delivery drivers – at several locations. They are now expected to sign up with external companies.

Media reports and the experiences of colleagues show that working conditions at these subcontractors are terrible, with some orders only being placed via WhatsApp and wages below the minimum wage. Redundancy or occupational safety? Social security? Paid holiday? Soon, all of this will be a thing of the past for a growing number of riders who work for the German industry leader Lieferando.

Price war at the expense of riders

The background to this is an aggressive price war between delivery services. ‘The managing director of Lieferando's sister company, yourdelivery, shamelessly says that permanent positions are a competitive disadvantage. I find that scandalous,’ says Julia.

In their battle for market share, the platform companies will stop at nothing. ‘International media have analysed that if they want to conquer a market, they ignore regulations – until they have created a new reality with their own rules,’ says Robert. Julia believes that constant court dates because employees are not willing to put up with everything is just part of the deal.

Legal loophole in platform business

The companies take advantage of the fact that most riders come from abroad – many speak little German and therefore find it difficult to find work elsewhere. Not all of them know their rights, but at the same time they urgently need a job – for their residence permit.

Julia and Robert are calling for a direct employment requirement modelled on the meat industry: since 2021, only permanent staff have been allowed to perform core tasks. With the massive protest organised by the Lieferando works councils together with the NGG, they even made it to Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas. The Social Democrat now wants to have a ban on subcontractors for food delivery services examined.

System catering = system minimum wage

The financial situation is also difficult for employees in parts of the system catering industry. However, with the latest collective agreement, the NGG has succeeded in securing a starting salary of around €3,000 for skilled workers. Unskilled colleagues, however, remain just above the minimum wage and thus have little more than the minimum subsistence level. Many employees therefore have to supplement their income with transfer payments. This is absurd: it means that taxpayers are covering part of the wages that financially strong employers such as McDonald's or Nordsee could easily pay themselves – if they played fair.

Value added tax: nothing for our own people

Ercan Burgu left the minimum wage behind him long ago. The trained gas and water installer started at Burger King 26 years ago as a €400-a-month worker. Today, he is a senior restaurant manager responsible for several branches in Dortmund and is also a member of the NGG bargaining committee. ‘The collective bargaining negotiations were very tough,’ says Ercan. And there is still a lot to do: ‘We have already announced that the next collective bargaining negotiations will be even tougher.’

He considers the widespread franchise system to be a major problem in chain restaurants. ‘Some franchisees unofficially pay below the minimum wage. The franchisors can't keep up with properly monitoring the businesses,’ says Ercan.

He would like to see works councils have more say. ‘For example, VAT in the catering industry has been reduced from 19 to 7 per cent. This has made some of our menus cheaper. But the employees are left empty-handed. I think it would be good if works councils could have a say in ensuring that part of this goes to the employees.’

Sweating where others go on holiday

At Tropical Islands, too, the operating company Parques Reunidos is pocketing the savings from the VAT reduction entirely for itself. Nevertheless, the employer is saving where it can. The meal allowance has also been reduced, says 

Simone Kaatsch, works council chairwoman at Tropical Islands in Krausnick.

1.2 million people visit the tropical water park in Brandenburg every year. With 3,500 beds, it is one of the largest of its kind. 541 employees take care of the guests: in addition to hotel and catering staff, this also includes gardeners, cashiers, around 80 lifeguards, cleaning staff, technicians and the park's own fire brigade.

Working in the tropical palm landscape is hard. Under the dome, the temperature reaches up to 28 degrees and the humidity is high. ‘Many new employees quickly throw in the towel because of this,’ says works council member Frank Moeß. ‘There is a lot of turnover, in addition to the shortage of skilled workers.’

What annoys Simone and Frank even more affects the whole of Brandenburg: in December, the NGG terminated the collective agreement, and the employers' association Dehoga is refusing to enter into new collective bargaining negotiations. ‘We are both on the bargaining committee. It was like a slap in the face for us. Wages are already so low,’ says Simone. However, she remains confident that the employers will back down.

Fewer and fewer employees covered by collective agreements

Even if the association returns to the negotiating table, more and more employers are evading the collective agreement provisions, completely legally. This is because in several federal states, the Dehoga employers' association allows so-called ‘OT memberships’. ‘OT’ stands for ‘ohne Tarif’ (without collective agreement) and means exactly that: although the employer is a member of Dehoga, they are not required to adhere to their own association's collective agreements.

This evasion of collective agreements means that fewer and fewer employees are covered by them. This is particularly prevalent in the hospitality industry. In addition, there is also evidence of employers defrauding their own employees. According to the Ministry of Finance, customs authorities have initiated almost 2,500 proceedings against the hotel and restaurant industry nationwide in 2025 alone, due to suspected violations of the Minimum Wage Act – for underpayment, excessive working hours or missing timesheets.

This makes it all the more important for employees in the catering and hotel industry to join the NGG – including those who work in smaller businesses. Already, one in four working NGG members is employed in hotels or catering. In order to attract new members and thus take a stronger stance towards employers, the NGG has launched the Hospitality Match campaign.

Above-average pay and appreciation

A glance at Hamburg shows that things can be very different in the industry. At the luxury Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten on the Außenalster – 156 rooms, eight restaurants – it's not just the guests who are happy. The staff are also satisfied, with above-average pay and additional benefits. The fact that celebrities are often guests at the hotel is an added motivation: Last year, for example, the princely family of Monaco and Taylor Swift were guests.

‘We are world champions when it comes to benefits,’ says Quality Manager Christian Wienecke. He has been working at the hotel for 33 years and has been chairman of the works council for 21 years. He has helped negotiate many additional benefits: a 13th month's salary, a free Germany-wide rail ticket, free meals and use of the hotel gym.

Employees are held in high esteem. Those who have been with the company for decades receive individual support. ‘If a colleague is no longer able to perform physically demanding work to the same extent after 30 years, she is given fewer rooms or other tasks,’ says Christian. Twice a year, the hotel hosts a graduation dinner for trainees and anniversary celebrations for long-standing employees. During the coronavirus pandemic, the employer topped up salaries in full, including the 13th month's salary. ‘It's a question of responsibility and, ultimately, employee retention,’ says Christian.

Works council makes the difference

The kitchens are located in the basement. Chef Oliver Schulte stands at the stove in the grill restaurant. He says he has got used to the heat and long working days. ‘The stress is higher than in less upscale restaurants, but that's become routine.’ He likes the fact that he can work a four-day week: four ten-hour working days are followed by three days off. ‘If you manage to have Friday to Wednesday off, it's almost like a week's holiday,’ says Olli.

Wienecke attributes the possibility of fair pay here to two factors: the hotel's stable economic situation and strong employee representation. ‘We've had a works council since at least 1969 – that makes all the difference.’