Berlin's food delivery workers face exploitation as no platform meets basic labor standards
Minimum Standards for Fair Work Include Living Wages, Protections, and Worker Rights
Basic standards for fair labor include adequate payâat least minimum wageâoccupational safety and insurance, transparent and legally sound contracts, and opportunities for worker representation. For years, Fairwork, a project of the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), has been evaluating platform economy companies based on these and other criteria.
The results of its most recent study, published last year, are damning: Lieferando, the top performer, scored just four out of ten points, while the majority of firmsâfrom Bolt and Wolt to Uber and Uber Eatsâearned none at all. Not a single company could demonstrate that it provides its delivery workers with living wages, sufficient accident protection, proper safety equipment, or training.
On Tuesday, Berlin's Left Party, led by its top candidate Elif Eralp, presented a proposal outside the Red City Hall to have the city itself certify platform companies in the future. "LieFair Berlin," a fairness seal for delivery work, would help customers make informed choices and, in turn, improve working conditions for the estimated 15,000 delivery platform employees in the city. Data would be collected every two years to award the certification, with companies failing to meet the standards also named publicly. Eralp demanded an end to exploitative practices: "These conditions must finally stop."
Many of those affected are migrants from Southeast Asia whose residency permits are tied to their jobs, making it difficult for them to resist exploitation. A major issue in the industry is the outsourcing of labor to subcontractors, often under fully deregulated conditionsâwithout contracts, insurance, or formal payroll, with wages paid in cash per delivery.
Subcontracting as a Core Problem
The spread of "shady subcontractors" has led to "drastic deteriorations" since Fairwork's first study in 2021, says Patrick Feuerstein of the project. Employment contracts, accident insurance, and sick pay are no longer a given. Germany now fares poorly on working conditions even compared to India, he notes.
While a requirement for direct employment by parent companiesâsomething the organized riders of the Lieferando Workers Collective are currently demanding via petitionâcan only be regulated at the federal level, the Berlin Senate has recently signaled it may explore a federal initiative. But since "nothing can be expected from the federal government," as Eralp puts it, Berlin must take the lead on "good work" and could "set a nationwide standard."
The tools needed are minimal: A simple state law could mandate the publication of findings. Much of the required dataâon collective bargaining coverage, minimum wages, pay transparency, workplace safety, equipment, worker representation, and algorithmic management of wages and shiftsâalready exists. The Left Party estimates that no more than four staff positions at the State Office for Occupational Safety would be needed. If the party enters government after September's state elections, the project could be launched quickly.
Delivery Services Rely on Their ImageâAnd That Could Drive Change
The result would be "an incentive to improve working conditions," Eralp argues. Damiano Vagolio, the Left Party's labor policy spokesperson, shares this view: "Delivery services depend on end customers and can't afford a damaged reputation." Feuerstein adds that companies have responded to past reports with incremental improvements. But the Left Party doesn't want to stop at public shaming: Vagolio calls for expanded inspections as a second pillar.
Mo, a shop steward and member of the Lieferando Workers Collective, also hopes for change. "Transparency in this industry is crucialâfor consumer protection, too," he says. "The way we work is how we deliver." One problem, he explains, is having to carry spare clothesâsometimes soiledâalongside food in a bag with no separate compartment: "I wouldn't eat the food I deliver because I know what my backpack looks like," he said at the initiative's launch.
Most recently, Lieferandoâspurred on by federal government policy and in a move similar to Tesla'sâretroactively cut sick pay for ailing colleagues, forcing those affected to take their cases to court, according to Mo. Additionally, many managers are currently being transferred to Poland or laid off. The strategy behind this: no local operations mean no works council. So there's still plenty of work ahead.
