Employees accuse Edeka of rock-bottom wages and extreme workload

Several Edeka supermarkets in the German state of Lower Saxony have received massive criticism from their employees, website finanzen.ch reports. The employees complained to NDR TV show 'Hallo Niedersachsen' about rock-bottom wages, bad working conditions and extreme workload. According to research by NDR studio Lüneberg, this concerns Edeka supermarkets in the regions of Uelzen, Winsen/Aller, Goslar, Nienburg and Eicklingen.

According to the employees involved, in many cases the supermarkets pay only half the wages that are usually paid in German retail under the collective agreement. A number of employees who have already completed their education, also receive a gross hourly wage of only 7 or 8 Euro. In addition, employees talk to NDR of a great shortage of staff, high turnover of employees, and situations bordering on psychological terror at work.

Economy expert Rudolf Hickel sees the growing privatization of Edeka supermarkets as being at the heart of the problem. These are partially used to circumvent wages that are collectively agreed upon in the retail industry: "The privatization is being used to consciously get out from under the collective agreement."

The supermarkets involved, and the regional Edeka Minden-Hannover cooperation, dismissed the accusations when NDR asked for a response. Furthermore, Edeka Minden-Hannover emphasized in writing that the privatized Edeka supermarkets would decide "independently on fundamental issues such as offering goods, servicing the market or managing staff".