DW-TV: You are a possible consumer of fair trade produce, Thomas Straubhaar. Is that right? Do you buy fair trade produce?

Thomas Straubhaar: Good question. Actually, we are more for local products, so I'm going to the farmer whom I know and then we know how he is going to produce milk and cheese and things like that, and meat.

DW-TV: Okay. In a way, that's also fair trade.

Thomas Straubhaar: Absolutely.

DW-TV: But classical fair trade, of course, is supposed to help improve working conditions in the region that produces the goods. How exactly does that work?

Thomas Straubhaar: It's a difficult task to control, whether they are really produced in a fair way or not. So it takes a long time to get this confidence that they are not only going to produce when the controllers are there, that they are doing it in daily life, and so I think this is a thing that you have to build up over years.

DW-TV: And it still works, even though discounters have a bigger market share today? They don't have the best reputation themselves.

Thomas Straubhaar: No, but it is a first step towards this market of fairly-produced products, and I think this is a good step toward broader alternatives, also in discount shops, and so I think this shows us that it becomes recognised also by more and more customers.

DW-TV: But discounters, at least here in Germany, have been criticised and come under fire again and again for their working conditions, so selling fair trade products -- isn't that a bit hypocritical?

Thomas Straubhaar: Yes, it may be, but I think in the future this will change anyway, because in the future we will have a lack of skilled and qualified workers, and I think that employers would be very well informed to treat their employees in a fair and correct way, and so I think there will be competition for good workers, also for discounters.

DW-TV: A lot of people here in Germany have started to complain in recent years that working conditions have become harsher, they're expected to work longer hours, be more flexible. Are they right? Are we losing a bit of fairness here?

Thomas Straubhaar: It's not a question of fairness; it's just a question of fact. Look, we are privileged. We have all these questions treated years and decades before now. Others will want to enter the market and would also like to get all this wealth that we have in the Western part of the world. So I think it's not a question of fairness; it's just a question of competitiveness and I think there we have to find a correct way between employers and employees.

DW-TV: You also said that employers have to be more attractive because we need more skilled workers. Our society is ageing. But what's the situation for people with disabilities? They also need to make a living.

Thomas Straubhaar: That's right, and I think that for the moment they have not yet profited from the upswing we have in the German labour market. But here also I'm very optimistic that this will change, due to the fact that we are ageing, that we are going to a lack of all these qualifications, and in a service industry that they have good chances to get better jobs.

Interview: Monica Jones