#MeatTheStandards is an EFFAT – IUF Europe wide initiative to raise awareness about the urgency for a fairer meat sector in Europe through:

• Increasing trade union membership and workplace representation in the sector
• Improve pay and working conditions through collective bargaining
• Empowering meat workers’ voice into the policy debate.

 The meat sector is an incredibly profitable industry: with a turnover of a hundred billion of euros and a presence of 32000 companies, it employs a workforce of approximately 1 million, of which a small proportion is directly employed.

 Yet, the sector is sadly renowned for its deplorable working and living conditions: overcrowded accommodation, lack of social security coverage, job insecurity, long and unrecorded working hours, poor wages and health and safety standards are only some of the hardships many meat workers face across Europe.

 Such dire reality is the consequence of a model that has developed through business practices and work arrangements aimed at cutting costs and escaping employer liability such as abusive subcontracting, bogus self -employment or the fraudulent use of temporary agency work. Covid-19 has exacerbated many of these issues, leading to the infection of nearly 30,000 meat-plant workers across the US and Europe.

 EFFAT and its global union federation IUF now join forces to call for a serious reform of sector that would dignify meat workers by raising their labour standards and increasing their trade union power.

 Material:
Logo
Our demands

Testimonials:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdF0jsKgFi9oQQB_UwKlDT4cr0UjJXwJY

 Pictures:
#MeatTheStandards | Flickr

Useful read:
Press release
Report: Hungry for fairness: raising standards in the meat sector|
Op-Ed: The Brussels Times

Follow the campaign and join the conversation on social media using:
#MeatTheStandards