Among the primates, gorillas are actually more sociable types; compared to the belligerent chimpanzees, for example, they are pretty peaceful. The situation is completely different with the delivery service of the same name from Berlin. The conflicts between the Gorillas management and the bike couriers seem to be approaching a new high point. Employees have been organizing wildcat strikes and protests for months to force better working conditions and higher salaries. Now the delivery service is reacting with all severity to recent actions and giving notice to drivers who have been involved in strikes. Several dozen have lost their jobs. The employees also go on confrontation and demonstrate on Wednesday in Berlin.
It is a two-page letter, one half in German, the other half in English, with which the delivery service is apparently trying to get the conflicts with its drivers under control. An offer for negotiation can be found in the document that the Süddeutsche Zeitung present, not. On the other hand, it is clearly written right at the beginning: “We hereby terminate the existing employment relationship with you extraordinarily for an important reason without notice.” Dozens of gorillas drivers have received this letter of resignation – without a reason.
But it was probably over the phone: According to the “Gorillas Workers Collective”, a loose alliance that organizes the protests of the drivers, Gorillas told some of those affected in personal conversations on the phone that they were fired because they went on strike. The SZ has spoken to several drivers who confirm this representation. The company itself makes no secret of the layoffs. Rather, it portrays them as if they were an imperative to keep operations going and to protect other employees.
Always in a hurry. The pressure on the drivers is great.
(Photo: Arnulf Hettrich / Imago)
With a view to a series of unannounced “wildcat strikes” that have taken place at locations in Berlin and Leipzig since Friday, a spokesman writes on request that all employees who actively participate and hinder operations through their behavior and their colleagues would be dismissed would have endangered. There were many figures circulating about how many employees this affects. They range from a dozen to several hundred. We hear from the company that it is definitely below 300. The explanatory memorandum goes on to say that the company has nothing against strikes in principle. However, these would have to be borne by a union. In any case, the management does not classify the Gorillas Workers Collective as a union and therefore feels legitimate to dismiss the wildly strikers without notice.
The drivers demand an hourly wage of twelve euros
They stand up for a whole bundle of demands. The riders, as Gorillas calls their riders, demand punctual payment and an hourly wage of twelve euros at the location in Berlin-Schöneberg. They are calling for the shifts to be more closely aligned with the needs of the drivers, for baskets to be provided for their deliveries and for them to be employed with fixed contracts. Last but not least, the strikers are demanding more staff to relieve their workload. An alleged efficiency program called “Project Ace” by the driver is also causing displeasure among employees Daily mirror reported. According to them, the workload for the employees has increased again.
With the current layoffs, the Berlin start-up is cashing in on a promise that the company’s boss made to his employees a few months ago. In July, Gorillas boss Kağan Sümer appeared at a rider demonstration and promised: Nobody would be kicked out who took part in strikes. That is not a reason for termination. Even then, Sumer’s public words contrasted with his internal messages. In the spring he wrote on Slack: “We have an emergency. We had to part with one of our drivers. Apparently he was trying to unionize and now they are making a big stir on Twitter.”
Drivers prevented managers from entering a warehouse
The start-up itself delivered bizarre scenes last Friday: Two high-ranking managers appeared in front of a department store in Berlin-Tempelhof, where the riders were on strike. They wore bicycle helmets and wanted to enter the camp. According to a driver who was there, the two had said that they wanted to make deliveries themselves. The riders thought that was implausible and prevented the managers from going into the department store. “I don’t know exactly what they really wanted either,” says Zeynep Karlıdağ from the Gorillas Workers Collective. “But I now trust gorillas to do anything. When it comes to preventing a union from being formed, nobody is fooling them.”
A driver demonstrates in Berlin, wearing a mask with the portrait of company founder Kağan Sümer.
(Photo: Monika Skolimowska / dpa)
The company, which is only around 18 months old, has been struggling with the displeasure of some employees almost from the start, not only in Germany, but also in other countries. Gorillas emphasizes again and again that they do not want to exploit anyone, but rather to appreciate the riders. Gorillas founder Kağan Sümer stages himself again and again as one of them. The company also repeatedly states that it has had various benefits for the drivers: a guaranteed hourly wage, an improved bonus system, a shift schedule that is not quite as tight and maximum weights for the backpacks. On the one hand, the concessions are no wonder, because the wellbeing of the company depends largely on the drivers. But maybe there is also a completely different motivation behind the layoffs:
The drivers are a significant cost factor in the still highly loss-making business. Among the founders in the Berlin start-up scene, other business models have long been discussed that are already common in the USA: that agencies only lend the drivers to the suppliers so that the personnel costs have less of an impact on the balance sheet.
Against the background, it is interesting that two planned investments by Delivery Hero and the US delivery service Doordash collapsed last year. At the same time, Gorillas announced in the USA that they would not expand outside of New York City for the time being, according to Bloomberg that was a condition for the partnership with Doordash. In addition, gorillas should reduce their losses in Europe. And lo and behold. First, Gorillas separated from some of the employees in the USA. And now, one could get the impression that Gorillas is in the process of fulfilling part two of the condition for partnerships with Doordash and Co.: fewer losses in Europe, so fewer employees.
And what about them? Zeynep Karlıdağ from the Gorillas Workers Collective is convinced that more internal and external pressure will be needed before something changes for the better for the drivers. “It would be best to delete the Gorillas app and not order it at all until the message has arrived.”