Discontent among Gorillas Berlin couriers erupted in February 2021. During the cold, city drivers said they didn’t have the equipment to reach their 10-minute delivery goals consistently. Safe on icy roads. That complaint gave birth to the Gorillas worker Collective, a group that organizes racers against a range of other concerns, from accidents caused by broken ebikes (powered by Gorillas) to bag weights and payroll issues like delayed or calculated wages. wrong math. “It appears to be an exploitative system,” said Oğuz Alyanak, German research leader of the Fairwork Foundation, a project based at the Oxford Internet Institute. “When I went to the rallies and started chatting with the riders, I realized there were a lot of different issues here.” A spokesperson for Gorillas said rider safety is a top priority, bikes are professionally serviced and the company is currently updating riders’ kits. “As in any large company with many employees, there are occasional payroll errors. However, these numbers represent a small percentage,” the spokesperson added.
Alyanak said the gorilla presents itself in a way that the public sees it as an alternative to the gig economy. “But when it comes to the actual work done or the problems workers face, there’s no substitute for it.” Instead, it is under pressure to operate in a crowded market of delivery apps, vying for market share with Lieferando, Wolt and Uber Eats, among others. According to Bernd Kasparek, a researcher at Berlin’s Humboldt University who focuses on work, housing and health in migrant communities, that competitive atmosphere means racers are under pressure to achieve Gorillas’ goal of 10-minute delivery. But the way Gorillas work also means that disgruntled riders have a natural rendezvous at their local warehouse, where they will pick up their orders. “People will stay even after shifts and sit in front of the warehouse, spending time with other people,” says Kasparek. “So that’s very beneficial to the organization.”
As the drivers began the process of forming a working council in June, their relationship with management deteriorated further. According to a Gorillas insider, who asked to remain anonymous because they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the company, there is a feeling that the working council could “destroy” the company. Management fears it will be dominated by what insiders describe as “anti-business” who make what they call “ridiculous” demands such as a € base salary. 20 ($22) per hour. Yasha, a member of the Gorillas worker Collective, who declined to share her last name because she doesn’t want to jeopardize future job opportunities, said the base salary car riders call for is about €18 ($20), an amount he says is “not illegal at all. Yasha also countered that the protesters were anti-business: “If the nature of the strikes is anti-business, why are they asking for hourly wages and not hourly wages? [government takeover] of the company?”
For the works council to become a reality, an election was held to choose who would sit on the electoral council. The election is held on 3 June and according to German labor law anyone can participate except the board of directors and those with the power to hire or fire. But when the headquarters staff appeared, around 50 people has been turned away, a Gorillas spokesperson told Capital at that time. “A lot of head office employees came in were turned away,” Yasha said. He added that the Gorillas worker Collective asked for job descriptions in advance from people who wanted to attend the meeting, so they could exclude people with management roles. “If Gorillas did that, there would be less confusion,” Yasha added.
