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Gorillas wants to introduce a franchise model in Berlin

2021-11-12T19:26:21.500Z


The delivery startup Gorillas has long been trying to prevent the establishment of a works council. Now every Berlin warehouse is to become its own company. Critics suspect a connection.


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Gorillas drivers at work: Without a works council on the bike

Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP

A labor dispute has been raging in one of the fastest growing start-ups in Germany for months. The “Gorillas” delivery service promises groceries within ten minutes, which is why thousands of bicycle couriers in Berlin alone deliver fresh fruit and vegetables around the clock. But in the capital of all places, many drivers have been complaining for months about poor working conditions and unpunctual salaries - which should change, among other things, through the election of a works council.

However, the start-up has now announced a far-reaching restructuring of its company.

A spokesman writes that they will soon be “testing a franchise model” in Berlin.

The so-called warehouses, as the delivery service calls its inner-city warehouses, are to be divided into "independent company units" from November 16.

All classic tasks of a company should then be carried out by franchisees, including shift and position planning.

"Warehouse managers are responsible for the corporate unit," writes Gorillas.

Will Gorillas undermine the works council election?

Critics suspect that the spontaneous action was a further attempt to prevent the establishment of a works council that was announced for the end of November. As SPIEGEL reported, the company was already planning to legally enforce an immediate termination of the election. In an application for an injunction, the Gorillas lawyers wrote that even a "corrective intervention in the election" was no longer possible due to numerous formal errors. The main reason: "It is completely unclear for which company a works council is to be established."

In fact, Gorillas had himself pushed through a short-term restructuring of the company that went into effect at the beginning of October.

Since then, a second company has been employing all couriers and the employees in the warehouses.

Even then, it was likely that the move was primarily directed against the employee representatives.

Now, just a few weeks later, the next restructuring will follow.

The day before the court hearing

For Martin Bechert, who represents numerous bicycle couriers in court, the move shows “Union busting like out of the script”.

You are fragmenting your company so much that the individual couriers have no chance of organizing the interests of the individual couriers.

"It is a systematic isolation of the workers," says Bechert.

So the chosen date is not a coincidence either.

Just one day after the company wants to introduce its "franchise model", on November 17th, the Berlin Labor Court decides whether the injunction against the works council election will be upheld.

A process that is now on shaky feet - thanks to the efforts of the start-up, there will probably no longer be an election, believes lawyer Bechert.

Gorillas are already looking for managers

Meanwhile, the express delivery service is already looking for franchisees.

To start the pilot phase, Gorillas writes in his press release, one looks for "people with an entrepreneurial spirit with whom the company can seize this exciting new opportunity and shape it together."

And what about the representation of interests in the new mini-companies?

That is still possible, employees can at least make their voice heard through "direct discussions, internal feedback channels and other formats available in your warehouse," writes Gorillas.

In addition, there is also the possibility of introducing formal employee representation - provided that the structures do not change again by then.

Gorillas did not want to answer any further questions beyond his message.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2021-11-12

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