Labor recruitment in postwar West Germany drew in millions of “guest workers” from Turkey, Italy, Greece, and elsewhere — and they also brought their culinary traditions with them. From Turkey, the döner, adapted to German tastes and marketed as an affordable street food, became a favorite in the 1970s. It was eventually enshrined as one of the country’s favorite fast-food meals.

To this day, the meat for the iconic döner skewers is often produced in migrant-dominated factories. One example is Birtat, a company that has manufactured these skewers for more than thirty years and claims to serve 13 million consumers every day. Yet unlike in Germany’s great metalworking industries, where migrant workers helped build strong union structures, this sector remained largely unorganized. Until 2023, no German döner meat producer had a works council or a collective bargaining agreement.

This changed at a factory in Murr, near Stuttgart, employing more than two hundred workers of Turkish, Kurdish, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Afghan backgrounds. The Food, Beverages and Catering Union (NGG) successfully organized the workforce and won the first works council election (representing employees in discussions with management). After an indefinite strike, lasting for twelve days, it secured the industry’s first collective agreement. In an interview for Jacobin, Nicola Quondamatteo spoke with Peter Schadt, an active supporter of the campaign, about how this success was achieved.