Study shows unfair working conditions for gorillas and co.

The Fairwork initiative has examined the working conditions of twelve German platforms. Uber, Freenow and Gorillas fared the worst in the ranking.

The Fairwork Germany Rating 2021 has been published and reveals shortcomings in working standards in the platform economy. The study was conducted by the Social Science Research Center in Berlin and the University of Oxford, among others. The researchers examined twelve online platforms in terms of fair pay, working conditions, contracts, management processes and co-determination.

With nine out of ten points, the personnel service provider Zenjob took first place in the fairness ranking. The delivery services Wolt and Lieferando took second place with seven points each. In the middle ranks are the companies Flink, Careship, Getir, Amazon Flex, Betreut.de and Helpling. With only two out of ten points, the delivery service Gorillas is in penultimate place. Cab apps Freenow and Uber share last place with just one point each.

The majority of platforms were unable to guarantee that their employees have a living wage after deducting work-related costs. Only five of the twelve platforms were also able to demonstrate their commitment to combating discrimination in the workplace. Gorillas stood out particularly negatively because there were apparently indications of anti-union measures. The company had tried for a long time to prevent the establishment of a works council in Berlin.

The motivation for the study was to create "humane and fair working conditions in the German platform economy", according to the Fairwork Germany team. "At the same time, however, we also want to use our research to show that a different platform economy is possible - and that innovation and flexibility should not necessarily be synonymous with precarity and insecurity."