Over the last couple of years, we at The Left Berlin have published several pieces documenting the disturbing demolition of workers’ rights in Berlin’s food delivery industry. We’ve reported on the opaque subcontracting chains and gang-like labour hierarchies swallowing up the sector; the daily violence, intimidation and abuse endured by a majority-migrant workforce; the staggered stripping of direct employment in favour of outsourcing to a “shadow fleet” of subcontractors; and the visa insecurity that keeps workers exploitable by trapping them in debt-driven precarity. Now it seems things are being pushed into an even more confrontational phase.
“They don’t want to be employers anymore. They want to make money without sticking to any rules. They don’t want to take part in society,” says Lieferando courier Max Muszak, as he denounces the corporate dark arts of an employer that has effectively stopped acting like one.
According to Muszak, in their pursuit of profit without responsibility, Lieferando’s C-suite have loosened their ties, opened their suit jackets wide over their heads, and parachuted all the way down to the bottom of the ethics barrel to land on full-blown Trumpian methods of union busting. The mask, he argues, is now off. “Lieferando is increasingly trying to get out of their duties as an employer. They’re not issuing the documents needed for the health insurance to pay sick pay or for the Arbeitsamt to pay unemployment money without a massive delay,” he says. “They’re really messing with us. I went with a colleague to the health insurance office and they told us: ‘What you’re asking for, we can only give to the employer, and the employer has to request it from us, but they haven’t, so we can’t issue this paper directly.’ It’s an absurd situation.”
For Muszak, this amounts to a rejection of institutional obligations – an imported US-style refusal to engage with regulation or any of the basic pillars of fair employment. At a time when collective organisation is under greater pressure than ever, it further isolates workers and is just one more reason why he and his colleagues at the Lieferando Workers’ Collective (LWC) have launched a new petition for direct employment. They are appealing for support from people willing to move beyond passive concern and into active solidarity.
Please sign the petition here and share it widely.
When you follow the link, you’ll find not just a traditional petition. You’ll also find a comprehensive overview of the issue and cause. There are quotes, videos, documentaries, reports, and background materials laying out exactly what’s going on. Basically everything you need to understand the fact that people, mainly migrants, are being trapped in slave-like conditions right underneath our noses.
For the LWC organisers, the broader goal is to build a base of supporters who’ll spread the campaign, pressure politicians, and keep the issue from being quietly ignored. “The petition isn’t just about signatures,” Muszak adds. “It’s an organising tool. We need your help; we need your time.”
So after you’ve signed, if you have some spare time, here are a few more direct ways you can get involved — a friendly set of ideas for escalation if you will.
Ways to support LWC beyond a signature
Feeling mischievous but can’t quite peel yourself away from your laptop or phone? Excellent. You can spam a politician instead.
Under the ‘What’s next?‘ section of the petition link you’ll find pre-written emails you can fire off in a couple of clicks, gently reminding elected representatives that this whole exploitation thing isn’t going to quietly disappear from their inboxes. Simply choose your politician and press send.
Or if you’d rather do something away from your screen, LWC is also looking for people willing to support couriers directly with legal cases over wage theft and unlawful dismissals. This includes helping to gather documents, build case files, and navigate the bureaucratic process that sits between workers and the courts. It’s a process that Muszak says is very effective because when workers are able to force disputes into court, Lieferando’s attempt to dilute responsibility through outsourcing no longer holds up. As he puts it, “Lieferando is already capitulating in courts and they are attending less and less. They’re not showing up. They’re losing big time.”
In Muszak’s eyes, every dismissal is a potential pressure point. Instead of just walking away, he and his colleagues now urge riders to “don’t quit, get fired and sue for severance pay” rather than letting the company “get rid of us for free.” The more workers who take their cases to court instead of disappearing quietly, the more expensive and politically risky Lieferando’s outsourcing plan becomes.
Beyond support in the courtroom and health insurance or unemployment offices, simply showing up when workers need numbers at demonstrations and workplace actions is also welcomed with open arms. “If we put obstacles into Lieferando’s plan to outsource, to get rid of our colleagues,” he adds, “that slows down the process and creates pressure towards accepting direct employment.”
While riders continue to lose their jobs, fight wage theft, and battle an industry determined to outsource every responsibility just to make a few people rich, the political class has largely fallen silent and much of the mainstream media has wandered off in search of the next shiny crisis. This is why we should all, at the very least, sign and share the petition to support our comrades because none of this is going away on its own – and nor will it change unless these capitalist vultures are forced to feel the cost of it. Muszak signs off with a challenge: “If you have nothing to do this summer, we can make you busy.”
Please sign the petition here and share it widely. If you can volunteer time to help the fight against subcontracting, get in touch with LWC here.
