The construction worker
Jochen Woerz likes to start his day with a cup of coffee and a cigarette. His apartment overlooks the A8, the busiest autobahn in southern Germany, which connects Stuttgart and Munich. The view also takes in the construction site he's currently working on, repairing the road surface.
A single parent
43-year-old Jochen lives in a modest rented apartment on the second floor of a hillside house in Gruibingen, a village with 2500 inhabitants in the middle of the Swabian Alb mountain range. He was born in Wiesensteig, just seven kilometers away, and has spent all his life in the region.
He leaves the house at half past six in the morning after waking his 9-year-old son Julian. Jochen has been divorced since 2001, and his ex-wife lives nearby. They share the child-care, and Jochen's mother and sister also live in the neighborhood and help out with Julian.
For the last 27 years, Jochen has been working for a local company called Moll, which specializes in street construction and underground engineering. Founded seventy years ago, it now boasts over one hundred workers. Jochen himself started out as a trainee and has worked himself up the ladder to a foreman's position.
Today he checks in at company headquarters before heading off to the construction site, about forty kilometers away.
A day of hard work
He and his team are replacing the tarmac. They're working with asphalt that's been heated to temperatures of 160 degrees Celsius. It's extremely hard, physical work, but the men trade jokes and chat to make it more manageable.
They take a break for half an hour at half past ten. Jochen has packed a lunch box with bread, cheese, sausage and fruit. It has to last him until the end of his shift, which can be over twelve hours long. The season for construction work is April to November. Once the winter kicks in, the chilly temperatures make Jochen's work impossible for a few months. He and his colleagues are paid compensation by the Employment Office, but only 60 percent of their normal wage.
It's not much, but it's enough for the occasional vacation. Jochen has even taken his son to Egypt. Julian means everything to him, and his first priority in life is ensuring that he gets a good education. As for himself, his own personal ambition is to meet someone and settle down.
Jochen says the best part of his day is coming home. "I know my son will be waiting for me," he says. His favorite dish is lentils with spaetzle – a Swabian specialty. But he doesn't often have time to cook, and he and Julian usually make do with bread and cold cuts.
Now and then, Jochen drops by his local pub, owned by an old school friend. He's still in touch with a lot of people he knows from his school days – friendship is important to him. He likes getting together with them and the other regulars for a beer and two. Everyone's equal here, he says, whether they're construction workers or managers.
Jochen is a bit of a rocker, and would like to go to concerts more often – but not many bands bother coming to Gruibingen. But to Jochen, it's home – and there's nowhere he'd rather be.
Author: Amjad Ali (jp)
Editor: Rina Goldenberg