Dispute at Gorillas over the establishment of a works council

An election committee must first be convened to elect a works council. This is what employees of Gorillas in Berlin did on Thursday. But apparently not all employees were allowed to attend the meeting.

Setting up a works council in Berlin start-ups is apparently not one of the easiest things to do. The latest example is the food delivery service Gorillas. On Thursday, an election committee for the works council was to be elected in Berlin-Neukölln, and the start-up's employees were invited to attend. However, not all of them were apparently allowed to attend the event and were turned away at the door, as reported by several media outlets. The reason for this is an exclusion list containing names of employees in higher positions.

In principle, such lists are permitted. The question behind this is when someone is considered a manager and when they are not. This is because shareholders and managers with personnel responsibility are not allowed to participate in the establishment of a works council. Only their names were on the blacklist, writes the Gorillas Workers Collective, which organized the event, on Twitter. Some members of the management are said to have tried to attend the meeting anyway.

However, several media outlets have also reported the exclusion of employees who are not part of the management and were nevertheless turned away. For example, a Riders Captain, who was responsible for twenty riders, or a supervisor from a warehouse.

The Gorillas Workers Collective has been critical of the working conditions and internal processes at Gorillas on Twitter for months. It is not known who exactly or how many of the start-up's employees are behind the account.

The company itself is said to be considering contesting Thursday's election, as not all employees were able to participate on an equal footing. That evening, the Berlin employees of Gorillas apparently received an email stating that the legal basis was being reviewed. Initially, talks will be sought with the initiators.

Gorillas Workers Collective announced on Twitter that the election committee will publish a statement later today.