Employment Law
Delivery service Gorillas continues to oppose works council election
An employee of the Gorillas food delivery service drives through the streets of the capital. Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Berlin food delivery service does not accept the court decision and continues to demand the election to stop. The next higher instance should judge it.
The Gorillas delivery service is still trying to stop the company’s works council election scheduled for next week. As the state labor court (LAG) Berlin-Brandenburg announced, the company does not accept the decision of the labor court last Wednesday.
Instead, Gorillas is demanding that the election planned for November 22-26, 2021 be canceled. So far, the judges had seen no reason for this. Now the next higher instance is to examine the case in an urgent procedure. An oral hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, as the LAG announced.
Delivery service wants to restructure
Employees of the Berlin start-up had already elected an electoral board to elect the works council. From the company’s management perspective, however, formal mistakes were made. She also argues that, given the restructuring that has taken place, the electoral board is not responsible for the employees who are called to vote.
For example, Gorillas recently announced that it would change its structure to a franchise model. Accordingly, the various distribution centers should form independent units. The employees see this as an attempt by gorillas to deliberately disrupt the preparations for the election and to prevent a works council. The delivery service has had a dispute about working conditions for months. According to a spokeswoman, dozens of proceedings are pending at the Berlin Labor Court.