Three months ago, a wave of outrage over the situation of slaughterhouse workers passed through Germany. Father Peter Kossen * then became known as the “lawyer” of the foreigners employed there. In an interview with DW, he explains why.
/German wave
For his commitment to them, this 52-year-old Catholic priest was awarded the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia by the prime minister of the state, Armin Laschet. August 23 is the International Day of Remembrance for the Slave Trade and its Abolition established by the United Nations.
Deutsche Welle: In your opinion, has the situation in the meat industry changed for the better, or is he just trying to wait out an uncomfortable wave of criticism?
Father Kossen: – Some precautions have been taken to avoid a re-lockdown, which has happened in many slaughterhouses. Obviously, if such a facility is closed for several weeks, the financial consequences for it are disastrous. Now their employees seem to be regularly tested for the coronavirus. But the meat industry also laments that all this makes production unprofitable. I find this pointless.
– The housing situation of foreign workers is changing very slowly. This is understandable, because it is difficult to immediately change what has been neglected and tolerated for many years, consciously giving it to the property owners who used it. It is difficult to immediately find a flat that fully deserves the name of an apartment in which one can live in decent conditions. But even so, something did move. On the other hand, the situation of seasonal workers in the meat industry, but also in agriculture, still leaves much to be desired in my opinion.
The companies undertook to improve it themselves.
– That’s part of the problem. In my opinion, companies here and there are doing something for show. For example, they reduce the number of leasing or seasonal workers in one plant and replace them with a permanent staff. But in another plant, belonging to the same group, everything is as usual.
– Such declarations of good will are not a manifestation of a change in the approach to economic activity, nor a proof of humanism on the part of large companies. They serve as a fig leaf, which they want to deceive the public and politicians. Meanwhile, everything remains unchanged behind this veil. The companies also try to avoid introducing new laws regulating the situation of foreign workers. And such laws are urgently needed.
Are there any politicians who share your opinion on this matter?
– When I started to protest against the situation in the meat industry and bring it to the attention of the public in the place where I had previously served in my pastoral ministry, in the Oldenburg Land, local politicians were against me and said that I was saying something that I had no knowledge of. But even then I had contacts with the Lower Saxony state government. Its prime minister, Stephan Weil, became interested in my expertise. At the moment, I am in touch with the Minister of Labor in the North Rhine-Westphalia government, Karl-Josef Laumann, and the head of the Muenster chancellery of the administrative district, Dorothee Feller. A few days ago I was asked to make a phone call by the Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, which took place. So something is happening at these levels of government.
The priest’s involvement seems to impress many people, regardless of whether they are associated with the Church or not. They like a clergyman who is so clearly on the side of people living in some sense on the margins of society. Why are you doing this?
– I would like to answer this question in a biblical spirit. In our Judeo-Christian tradition, much is said about prophets who pay special attention to the dangers of Christians of both sexes neglecting their duties towards their fellow men as well as their duties towards society as the community in which they live. They all kept saying that one should not live at the expense of others.
– I would also like to quote the words of Pope Francis, who called on the clergy to go to people living on the margins of society and to be more interested in their fate. I am trying to do this. That’s why it’s easier to meet me there than in middle-class circles. It is true that I come from it and as a priest I live a very bourgeois life. But I try to be interested in people who are far worse off than me and to stand up for them.
This attitude fits in with many official declarations of the Catholic Church.
– But not everyone likes it in the middle class. It is much easier for us to approve the social commitment of the Church somewhere in South America, Africa or Asia. The further away from us, the better, because it is so much more convenient. However, when the clergy pay attention to various problems in our immediate neighborhood, then they destroy our peace of mind, because we have got used to the thought that such situations should not happen in our country. But they do happen, also in Germany, which many people find hard to come to terms with. They don’t want to name things and they don’t want priests to point out the negligence of politicians. In the classical political division between right and left, such an attitude fits the left. Well, so be it.
The Church is changing. Would you like the clergy to become more involved in social problems, also in other countries? Or that one of the bishops was clearly on the priest’s side?
– Yes of course. The church can be accused of a lot of neglect, but its clear stand on the side of the oppressed is what our society expects and expects of us clergymen. He expects us to act as a lobby for those who do not and cannot have another lobby. This is the fundamental task of the Church and it is, so to speak, the true DNA of all Christians. Poverty, injustice, and social insensitivity must arouse the indignation of the Church and all the faithful and mobilize them to action. This is what I am guided by in my mission and I cannot stop what I am doing. Moreover, I believe that such an attitude should be common.
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– The Church is a global player. We can facilitate various contacts, we have various aid organizations operating worldwide, we can create networks of all kinds of connections, and we can spread solidarity. We are faithful to this idea and we try to put it into practice. In some parts of the world this attitude can be fatal, but as a Church, I repeat, we must be a lobby for everyone who has no other support and who lives on the margins of life.
Christoph Strack spoke to Peter Kossen
* Peter Kossen, b. 1968 in Wildeshausen, Lower Saxony, is a German priest in the Roman Catholic Church, known for fighting all forms of modern slavery and promoting decent and just working conditions.
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