“In my warehouse there have been more than ten accidents involving drivers with broken bones in the last three months. We asked the company to provide us with new bikes, but nothing happened. That’s why I’m terminating Kağan’s employment. ”Applause. “There is sexist and racist discrimination with gorillas. That’s why I’m firing Kağan. ”Applause. “I’m on strike because we need better equipment to deliver the goods. Kağan, you are fired! “
There was a crowd in front of the Berlin headquarters of the Gorillas grocery delivery service on Schönhauser Allee this Wednesday afternoon. About 120 people – gorillas drivers, supporters and loads of journalists – have come and they are listening to the company workers presenting why they are firing their boss, Gorillas founder Kağan Sümer .
The reason for the gathering: Quite a few drivers had by letter or phone call earlier this week received their layoffs. The company is reacting to new strikes in several of the 16 Gorillas delivery centers in Berlin. According to statements by workers, it is mainly drivers who work in Schöneberg, Gesundbrunnen or Bergmannkiez – those “warehouses” that have been on strike since last Friday that are affected. Apparently, the company picked out those workers who were on the shift schedule on the days in question. In the delivery center Bergmannkiez at Kaiserkorso 154, those who were given notice at the rally reported that even the entire workforce was fired. And that could just be the beginning. As can be heard from ver.di representatives on the sidelines of the protest, gorillas are supposed to plan the dismissal of up to 350 employees.
The labor dispute in the summer
In the company, which promises to deliver groceries at supermarket prices to the front door within ten minutes, there have been spontaneous work stoppages and protests by employees since the summer. The first wave of wildcat strikes in June was triggered by the dismissal of a driver in the warehouse at Checkpoint Charlie. At that time, one to two dozen drivers spontaneously brought operations to a standstill and then moved on to block other camps in the city as well. These actions quickly attracted a lot of attention to the gorillas drivers, as wild strikes, i.e. strikes not called by a union, are a rarity in Germany.
In addition to the demand for the driver Santiago to be reinstated, the workers criticized the six-month probationary period during which they could be fired without giving any reason, poor working conditions, insufficient equipment and irregularities in wage payments. In the following weeks there were repeated protests and shorter strikes, and delivery centers had to shut down several times for a few hours or a day. The main force behind the protests was that Gorillas Workers Collective, a self-organized group of drivers who had criticized the company’s business practices since the beginning of the year and had also started an initiative to set up a works council.
Gorillas founder Kağan Sümer tried to sit out the protests in the summer. He signaled his willingness to dialogue with the drivers, gave confused motivational speeches at Zoom conferences, even appeared in person at a protest and promised improvements. “We’re working hard to solve the problems” and “I’m a driver myself at heart” were popular sentences from Sumer’s rhetoric kit. But the promised improvements did not materialize, accidents due to poorly maintained bicycles, late wage payments and an internal project called “Ace”, with which the company is testing tighter shift schedules and shorter delivery times, fueled displeasure among workers.
On Friday, October 1st, the workforce of two delivery centers – at the Kaiserkorso in Berlin-Tempelhof (called “Bergmannkiez” within the company) and in Schwedenstrasse in the Wedding district (“Gesundbrunnen”) – went on an indefinite strike. On October 2, the workers at the Schöneberg delivery center also went on strike. In all three camps, the strike was preceded by workforce meetings at which the strike and the demands were voted on. Duygu, a driver in the Bergmannkiez delivery center, told the left-wing monthly newspaper during the strike on Monday – before the wave of layoffs if: “We demand fair and full payment, safe bikes, an end to understaffing, decent and predictable shifts and consultation with the drivers in the event of changes in the processes. In other warehouses, the requirements are similar, but it varies a little depending on what are the major problems on site. It was important for us that we talked to each other in detail and discussed the demands, so in the end almost all the workers here in the warehouse voted for the strike. “
“This anchoring in the delivery centers is a big step forward compared to the summer,” says a member of the Gorillas Workers Collective. “There are more people there than in summer, including communities that we couldn’t reach back then, and not just riders, but also pickers (who put the goods together in the warehouse, Editor’s note) and even individual supervisors support the strike. “
Legalize wildcat strikes?
It is possible that the new dimension of the strike prompted management to strike back. As recently as the summer, Sümer had emphasized that he would not fire anyone because of the strike. “I like that you fight for your rights,” he said at the time.
The notice of termination states that the employment relationship will be terminated without notice for an “important reason”. In dismissals made by telephone, several drivers were informed that their participation in the strike was the reason for the termination without notice.
A spokesman for the company explained the change of course to the Tagesspiegel: “Such unannounced and non-union strikes are legally inadmissible. After careful consideration, we are now forced to enforce this legal framework. This means that we end the employment relationship with those employees who actively participated in the unauthorized strikes and blockades, who hindered the company with their behavior and thus endangered their colleagues. “
However, it is by no means certain that the dismissals will stand in court. The strict interpretation of the right to strike, according to which strikes, to which no union eligible for collective bargaining has called, are illegal, is a German peculiarity. This is countered by the European Social Charter, an internationally binding agreement according to which the right to strike is an individual right. In the upcoming labor court proceedings, an interesting precedent could be negotiated, which also concerns whether wildcat strikes can take place quite legally in the future – or whether their illegalization will be continued and codified.
The protesting gorilla workers expect to be able to successfully challenge the layoffs. Further protests are planned in the coming days. The Gorillas Workers Collective writes on its Twitter account: “Striking is not illegal. Not paying your workers is illegal! “
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