Ten minutes. That's how long it takes for the delivery service to bring gorillas groceries home at supermarket prices. Obviously, many of them still lacked this service, because the Berlin start-up is expanding rapidly. For the industry, the corona pandemic is a billion dollar business and it looks like many have settled in with the comfort they have become accustomed to during the time in lockdown. From the Gorillas profits, however, little money seems to flow into fair working conditions, which is why the employees have been protesting for weeks. The strikers denounce the precarious working conditions and report arbitrary dismissals, overtime and inadequate equipment.
In their race against time, the workers apparently have to race through the city centers on e-bikes in need of repair, some in rain-soaked work clothes. Their performance is monitored by an algorithm. This controls the gorillas drivers from order to delivery and measures the time. If problems arise, the company can only be reached by its workers via email. Strange, after all, the drivers - called "riders" - are part of a "crew that helps and strengthens each other". At least that's what the company promises on its website. What sounds like the hollow start-up rhetoric of Silicon Valley is at least partially true. However, very different from what gorillas thought: The “riders” arrange to meet on Twitter for a labor dispute.
Where it only takes a maximum of 280 characters to ride on waves of outrage, the struggle between capital and labor can now continue. One of the advantages of this development is being able to form a kind of grassroots union online. The "Gorillas Workers Collective" organizes blockades and refusal to work in real time. From a purely legal point of view, the actions are “wildcat strikes” that take place without prior notice or central coordination by large unions. It's not legal. But overcoming bureaucratic strike hurdles is likely to be difficult for the predominantly immigrant workforce.
Many of them hardly speak any German. The fact that they are now including terms such as “works council” or “protection against dismissal” in their vocabulary should make the boardrooms of Gorillas nervous. The company recently gave in and announced a plan of action that promises equipment controls and a larger support team. Not only competitors like Lieferando and Co. will be eager to see how the exchange of blows with gorillas continues. It has already set the precedent for a strike culture that only requires a smartphone and a Twitter account - and allies, of course. Gorillas delivers in ten minutes? The battle cry of the rebels undercuts that: "We organize ourselves in less than ten minutes".