Date
27 October 2021

Tag

Active

Country
Germany Germany
Geographical scope
Regional
Type
  • Type

    Awareness raising, campaigns, information provision

    Voluntary
  • Type

    Industrial action

    Voluntary
  • Type

    Negotiation of working conditions

    Voluntary
  • Type

    Organising and representing workers

    Voluntary
View Initiative

Description

The Deliver Union is a group of Foodora and Deliveroo bicycle couriers which started organising themselves in 2016 within the FAU Berlin (Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union, Free Workers’ Union). The Deliver Union aims to negotiate better working conditions for workers of the food delivery companies. 

Deliver Union Campaign's demands include: 

  • To have all repair costs covered by Deliveroo and Foodora
  • A pay increase of €1 per hour, per employee, and an additional €1 for freelancers
  • An immediate freeze on recruitment to guarantee enough hours for existing riders to make a living
  • Specifically, for Deliveroo: Transparency toward workers on the number of hours they have worked, which they currently cannot assess although they are tracked
  • Specifically, for Foodora: Payment of the equivalent of one hour’s work to compensate for work-related tasks undertaken in spare time.

The Deliver Union organises meetings, strikes, signature campaigns and events in Berlin and keeps a Facebook page

In August 2019, Deliveroo ceased its operation in Germany, while the Deliver Union, together with other unions and riders from other platforms, continues to protect delivery riders in Germany. 

In August 2020, the union organised an interview with Lieferando drivers from the FAU Berlin operation group to learn about drivers’ main concerns and demands in the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the company’s responses.  

In February 2021, the Lieferando operating group of FAU Berlin, together with riders from Wolt, has started a campaign which aims to address the issues related to severe weather conditions and the COVID-19 crisis. To achieve this, they have made several demands including: 

  • Timely provision of equipment for summer and winter seasons
  • Compensation for fixing the personal equipment damaged by bad working conditions
  • Guaranteed safe working conditions, which ensure that riders are not forced to work in hazardous environments
  • Full pay for work that is ceased due to unsafe working conditions
  • Employer and workers rather than the employer alone should jointly determine whether the working conditions are acceptable
  • Easy access to sanitary facilities, toilets and washing rooms during shifts.

On August 13, 2021, the Lieferando (in cooperation with the Gorillas Workers Collective) operating group organised a nation-wide protest demanding: 

  • Payment for all the equipment needed (bikes, locks, clothes, phones, power and data)
  • Timely and regular payment of adequate wages
  • Payment of pension insurance, health insurance, sick leave and holiday leave according to the law
  • Data security
  • Termination of probation periods, contract limitations, arbitrary terminations and repression against unionizing (“union busting”).

In response to the protest, Lieferando announced the termination of short-term contracts and offered unlimited contracts to their workers. 

In September 2021 FAU won a case in court. The Deliver Union had been fighting the arbitrary termination of a worker of Cycle Logistics CL GmbH in March 2021. The employer did not explain the decision and even in court justified this decision only in vague terms indicating that the worker had ‘violated the contract’ and had ‘missed out on articulating the ways he would imagine a future collaboration’. Since the worker was actively engaged in setting up a works council within Cycle Logistics CL GmbH, he was organizing workers and the termination was declared shortly after the employers found out about the planned elections of the works council. The Deliver Union and the worker claimed this to be the reason for the termination of his contract. For these reasons, the Berlin Labour Court ruled that the termination was unlawful and suspended it.

Further reading:


Additional metadata

Keywords
representation, industrial relations, social dialogue, industrial action, health and safety, income, COVID-19
Actors
Individual worker, Employee organisation
Sector
Transportation and storage
Platforms
Lieferando

Citation

Eurofound (2021), Deliver Union Campaign, FAU Berlin (Initiative), Record number 3013, Platform Economy Database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/platformeconomydb/deliver-union-campaign-fau-berlin-103123.