Layoffs: How the delivery company “Gorillas” breaks a promise

Layoffs: How the delivery company “Gorillas” breaks a promise

Gorillas delivers food in ten minutes. But his couriers criticize the working conditions. This has led to strikes that have resulted in numerous layoffs. In doing so, the start-up has broken a promise it made itself.

By Hannah Schwär

The din echoed across the intersection in front of the headquarters of the Berlin delivery service Gorillas for almost six minutes. With pot lids, frying pans, drums and whistles, employees of the start-up have gathered to protest against the mass layoffs the day before. The police estimate that around 120 people came.

One of them is the 28-year-old courier driver Alok N. “We toil for the company. And then all of a sudden I get a call from a stranger that I have been fired”, N. tells dem stern. He has been working for the delivery service for three months, which advertises bringing groceries to the front door within ten minutes in order to finance his studies. “The situation is really shitty. The orders are often too difficult. That gives you back pain.”

Last Friday, therefore, N. spontaneously stopped work with his colleagues. Over the weekend there were a total of three unannounced strikes that were not sponsored by the union. Behind these so-called “wild strikes” is the Gorillas Workers Collective. The group has paralyzed several locations with blockades since June, sometimes for hours.

Wildcat strikes against gorillas are illegal

So far, gorillas have accepted the spontaneous work stoppages. On Tuesday, however, the company terminated several striking employees without notice, including Alok N. During the wildcat strikes, the protesters blocked the emergency exits, a spokesman said on Tuesday evening. The company is now forced to enforce the legal framework. “This means that we will end the employment relationship with those employees who have actively participated in the unauthorized strikes and blockades, who have hindered the company through their behavior and thus endangered their colleagues.”

The drivers contradict this representation. Alok N. says that work at his warehouse was simply stopped, but no entrances were blocked.

The company is apparently still in the right. “Participation in a wildcat strike is a reason for dismissal without notice,” says Pascal Croset, specialist lawyer for labor law, in an interview with the stern. The background is the German right to strike. “Strikes are always reserved for the trade unions in Germany,” says the labor lawyer. Unannounced work stoppages, which, as in the case of gorillas, are carried out by a collective, are unlawful. “The operational blockades are also punishable,” says Croset. The company could theoretically report employees for trespassing and coercion.

Gorillas cannot actually afford mass layoffs

The extent of the mass layoffs is still unclear. The company itself did not want to comment on this after multiple inquiries. The Gorillas Workers Collective reported that stern of “at least 50” people affected. The Berlin SPD member of the Bundestag Cansel Kiziltepe, who has accompanied the protests since the summer, spoke on Twitter of 350 layoffs. At the request of the stern she was referring to trade union circles.

The company’s move comes as a surprise. Gorillas cannot actually afford the mass layoffs. The company has ambitious growth plans, but there is also a driver shortage in the industry. In the short term, the personnel gaps can possibly be filled with short-time work companies. In the longer term, however, the behavior of gorillas harbors an enormous business risk: without couriers there is no business. The signal that the start-up with the mass layoffs is now sending could prove to be fatal when it comes to hiring new staff.

Collective wants better working conditions

The Gorillas employees have been protesting for better working conditions for months. The movement emerged from a Whatsapp group in February. It is now supported by the Food-Enjoyment-Gaststätten (NGG) and the anarchist trade union FAU. At the time, some drivers complained that they should make deliveries when there was a meter of snow – allegedly without winter-proof work clothes. In the meantime, there is much more to it: wages, the abolition of non-objective time limits and the election of a works council.

The couriers fight the excesses of digital capitalism with its means: On that of the collective, around 12,500 followers follow what is currently going on with gorillas. The channel paints the picture of a ruthless and profit-driven company. Regardless of whether this representation is correct or not – it is a colossal damage to the image of the young start-up.

So far, company boss Kagan Sümer has emphasized that he welcomes the establishment of a works council. He had also presented an action plan for better working conditions. Sumer also showed understanding towards the strikers in the summer. “I would never fire someone because they are on strike,” promised the Gorillas CEO during a confrontation with protesting employees. A promise he’s now broken.

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