The Gig Economy Project spoke to Zeynep Karlıdağ, rider at food delivery company Gorillas and member of the Gorillas’ Workers Collective, about their wave of wildcat strikes and warehouse blockades in Berlin.

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Dotted in neighbourhoods across Berlin are small ‘Gorillas’ warehouses. Out of these warehouses comes riders bearing groceries, to deliver to homes “faster than you” can buy it yourself from the shop, the company’s slogan promises.

Gorillas has been described as the fastest European start-up company ever to reach ‘Unicorn’ status; the ultra-fast app delivery company launched in spring 2020 and was valued at over €1 billion just nine months later. Gorillas has continued to rapidly expand, operating in cities across Germany as well as France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.

But take a closer look at its Berlin warehouses (otherwise known as ‘dark stores’) over the past couple of months and you will see something interesting. The ‘Gorillas’ are revolting. In an unprecedented wave of wildcat strikes across June and July, the company’s riders have been blockading the entrances of warehouses and shutting down its operations.

The riders, who are employees of the company, have been organising as the Gorillas Workers Collective, and have turned the company’s slogan on its head: while CEO Kağan Sümer promises “delivering in under 10 minutes”, the GWC are “organising in under 10 minutes” - the GWC respond to the sacking of a colleague or unsafe working conditions with immediate direct action. And they have got Sümer’s attention - videos circulating on social media show the workers directly confronting a nervous-looking CEO, who has refused to agree to a long list of demands but has responded with somewhat desperate and bizarre appeals for unity.

To find out more, Gig Economy Project co-ordinator Ben Wray spoke to GWC’s Zeynep Karlıdağ. In this podcast, they discuss:

0.20: How did the Gorillas Workers Collective get started?

5:14: The wave of wildcat strikes in June and July

13:40: Gorillas’ delivery model and rider accidents

18:43: What would decent working conditions look like for riders?

24:36: Gorillas Workers Collective’s informal mode of organising

28:38: An international movement of riders