Minister of Labor Heil visits Gorillas employees

The Gorillas employees are disappointed after the meeting. Heil declares that he cannot interfere in the industrial action.

Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) visited employees of the delivery start-up Gorillas on Tuesday. They talked together for around half an hour at a soccer cage in Berlin-Kreuzberg, in the immediate vicinity of the local Gorillas warehouse. "As Minister of Labor, I can't get directly involved in labor disputes, but I can keep myself informed," said Heil. He was "personally interested" in the Gorillas case. At the same time, he spoke out against fixed-term contracts and called on workers to join traditional trade unions.

Gorillas workers have been on strike on and off since the beginning of June after a colleague was apparently fired without warning. The industrial action is being organized by the Gorillas Workers Collective, which has so far refused to cooperate with the relevant trade union, Verdi. "The unions support us, but they don't want to take the risk of our strikes," Jakob Pomeranzev from the Collective told Deutsche Presse Agentur. Employees are currently trying to set up a works council. In conversation with Heil, they complained that Gorillas was hindering them. Other points in the conversation included a lack of equipment and a lack of occupational health and safety.

After talking to Heil, the Gorillas employees were disappointed. They had expected the minister to support them in their strike, Pomeranzev told the German Press Agency. Heil only became specific when he announced his intention to contact the Berlin Senate. Heil had also previously spoken to Gorillas, but not with founder and CEO Kagan Sümer, but with Marc Hansell, who is General Counsel at Gorillas. Heil then spoke of a "need for improvement" at the start-up, writes Gründerszene. Gorillas, on the other hand, thanked him for the constructive discussion and the invitation. The start-up once again emphasized that it supports the efforts of the employees to establish a works council.