Tönnies under fire after applying for financial aid

The application from the German meat company Tönnies to receive financial support during the corona crisis is not well received. Citizens are often irritated, but politicians also do not understand the application.

Tönnies, which has been closed for several weeks due to corona infections among the staff, asked for financial support from the government last Friday (July 10). This to pay its employees who were quarantined without getting sick. The application is based on the fact that companies that have to close by order of the health service are entitled to wage compensation.

Critique on request
The fact that Tönnies has also applied for a wage compensation application has led to a lot of criticism among citizens and politicians. Agriculture Minister Julia Klöcker also has little understanding of the situation and also sees the application as a wrong signal. "As a result of the incidents at Tönnies, an entire region has been forced to close. This application will certainly not reduce the irritation among the population."

Karl-Josef Laumann, the Minister of Labor in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, also criticizes the meat group's application. According to him, while the company has legal grounds for making the application, they have to be very careful. "They have to think very hard about how much the people of North Rhine-Westphalia still accept."

Closed until July 17th 
As the situation stands so far, the slaughterhouse will remain closed until Friday 17 July. However, many discussions are being held with the Gütersloh district council. District manager Ardenauer says the following about this: "We are having constructive talks with the company, but there will only be a restart when everything is safe."

Chanti Oussoren

Editor at Boerenbusiness who studies the dairy, pig (meat) and feed markets.

c.oussoren@boerenbusiness. Nl

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