Gorillas bosses won't contest works council election

In recent weeks, Gorillas employees have been arguing with their management on social networks and are still protesting against the working conditions at the start-up. Now the General Manager for Germany is speaking out.

Gorillas does not want to take action against the election of its employees' election committee, as General Manager for Germany Alexander Brunst explains to Gründerszene: "We will not contest the election, however, because we always look for collaborative solutions with our riders," says Brunst. They are also "in contact with the committee for the works council elections" in order to work together on solutions to the employees' criticism.

At the beginning of the month, the Gorillas employees in Berlin elected an election committee, which will organize the works council elections in a second step. Not all employees were able to vote, as there was an exclusion list of names that, according to the organizers, probably had personnel responsibility. Managers are also legally excluded from the works council. Gorillas itself opposed this: As Brunst describes in an interview with Gründerszene, there was, for example, an intern on the list who had access to Gorillas' headquarters, but who is "not to be considered part of the management".

Gorillas employees criticize the six-month probationary period, for example, during which notice of termination can be given. Contracts at Gorillas are usually only concluded for one year and many of the couriers do not work for the company for long due to the high workload. Brunst explains that this probationary period is "a legal standard".

Employees also criticized the working conditions, such as the lack of winter clothing in sub-zero temperatures and currently the lack of air conditioning in the warehouses. Brunst said that "we now have air conditioning in 70 percent of our warehouses and are in the process of retrofitting it in the remaining warehouses". His explanation is surprising: "Unfortunately, we couldn't have expected such extreme heat in June...".

On Twitter, the Gorillas Workers Collective, an anonymous association of couriers, shared the information that department stores in both Hamburg and Berlin are operating without air conditioning at over 30 degrees.