Status: 10/6/2021 4:04 p.m.
Bicycle couriers from the Gorillas delivery service have been campaigning for better working conditions for months. Now the Berlin start-up has given notice to the strikers. Is that right?
Gorillas workers are still demonstrating in Berlin today. And that despite the fact that the company has fired a good two dozen drivers because of strikes. The justification of the Berlin start-up: Unannounced and non-union strikes are “legally inadmissible”. According to the ver.di union, it is politically “a mess” that the company is now laying off those employees who are campaigning for better working conditions. “But in terms of labor law, the company should have the better cards,” said the press spokesman for the ver.di regional association Berlin-Brandenburg, Andreas Splanemann.
According to German law, a so-called “wild” strike is a reason for dismissal. That is, individual workers cannot simply band together and go on strike. In Germany only a union is allowed to call a strike – which was not the case with the Gorillas delivery service drivers. The company explains in writing: “After careful considerations, we are now forced to enforce this legal framework. This means that we will end the employment relationship with those employees who are actively involved in the unauthorized strikes, who hinder the company through their behavior and theirs Have put colleagues at risk. ” Emergency exits have also been blocked, according to Gorillas.
Delivery driver hardly unionized
ver.di, in turn, criticizes the working conditions at the online food delivery service. Too many framework conditions have not been clarified, such as the question of work equipment, whether drivers have to use their own cell phones and bikes and whether they are insured in the event of an accident. From ver.di’s point of view, one problem is that very few employees are currently unionized in the online delivery services. “If the strikers were in the union, they wouldn’t have the problem with dismissal,” said the ver.di spokesman.
Gorillas is one of many young companies offering a selection of supermarket products online. The online delivery service promises to deliver purchases from the warehouse to the customer in just ten minutes. Customers can order via the app. Critics complain that the business model of online delivery services is only so profitable because the courier drivers’ working conditions are dubious.
Controversial question in court
Next, the Berlin labor court is likely to deal with the case, believes specialist lawyer for labor law Stephan Vielmeier from the Munich law firm “Vielmeier Rieble”. He assumes that individual employees will file an action for protection against dismissal before the labor court. From the point of view of the lawyer, it is an exciting and controversial question whether the court will invoke the European basis in this case and thus decide for each employee. The European Social Charter – a binding agreement under international law – regards a strike as an individual right. In line with this legal opinion, individual workers are likely to go on strike even without a union.
Should the court invoke the European Social Charter, that would not only set a precedent. From the point of view of the labor lawyer, the ruling could also weaken the role of the trade unions. Because if the court, contrary to the current German jurisprudence, should regard the strike as an individual right, the trade unions would lose their monopoly.