Gorillas gives notice to striking drivers

Some employees have been at odds with the company for months. Now the ten-minute delivery service is taking drastic steps, the industrial dispute is escalating.

The rapid growth of Gorillas has its downsides. Several employees have been at odds with the company for months, and there have also been several strikes. They blocked warehouses and other places. The workers want to protest for better working conditions and more pay. Now the company is reacting drastically - and is dismissing more than a dozen drivers, as several media report unanimously.

However, this is more likely to fuel the industrial dispute than to end it prematurely. The Gorillas Workers Collective, an association of drivers protesting poor conditions at Gorillas, wrote in a Twitter message in English: "@Gorillasapp is mass firing workers! Some have been striking, some supporting. Others were not involved at all. This is not only #unionbusting anymore. Management is threatening our lives. This has to stop! #DeleteGorillas. Give low ratings on App Stores and Search Engines!" The German translation would be something like, "@Gorillasapp is laying off employees en masse! Some went on strike, some supported. Others were not involved at all. This is not just #unionbusting anymore. Management is threatening our lives. This has to stop! #DeleteGorillas . Give low ratings on app stores and search engines!"

This is not just #unionbusting anymore. Management is threatening our lives.

Twitter account of the Gorillas Workers Collective

The Mirror says it has the termination letters. Accordingly, it says: "We hereby terminate the existing employment relationship with you without notice for good cause". The important reason however does not specify the enterprise, apparently it was however about the strikes. A Gorillas spokesman told Der Spiegel that non-union strikes were not legal.

With the dismissal now, the dispute at Gorillas has escalated completely. Already for Wednesday new strikes are announced, although boss Kagan Sümer had boasted only a few weeks ago about how fairly they would treat everyone. In an interview with the FAZ, he said in response to the question of whether he was exploiting employees: "We at Gorillas certainly aren't." His drivers, or at least some of them for once, apparently see things differently.