Many Berliners dare in view of permanent frost and slippery conditions hardly on the street anymore. However, hundreds of courier drivers who deliver food for delivery companies such as Lieferando and Wolt have no choice. While the number of accidents is increasing, Lieferando employees criticize that the company is not doing enough to ensure the safety of its drivers.
“The work is most dangerous in winter,” says Max from Lieferando Workers Collective (LWC). The delivery driver does not want to give his full name for fear of consequences. Max fears that there will be many more accidents in the coming weeks with this weather. “ Lieferando could prevent them, but is acting completely irresponsibly.”
A key point of criticism is that the company maintains operations even in black ice and cold conditions: “ Lieferando pauses operations very rarely and very late,” reports Max.
According to internal accident figures available to the taz, eight incidents were reported in January. In the relatively ice-free November there were only three incidents. These only concern serious accidents with insurance-related injuries. “The number of unreported cases is much higher,” estimates Max from the LWC.
Lieferando: “Safety is a priority”
When asked by taz, Lieferando denies the allegations. “The safety of our drivers is our top priority,” says a company spokesman. The weather and road conditions are closely monitored at the local level and deliveries are paused in the event of adverse weather conditions such as lightning ice. Anyone who feels unsafe can cancel their shift at any time.
Officially Lieferando has a multi-stage system for responding to severe weather conditions. According to an internal protocol available to taz, specially trained drivers are asked about the weather conditions when there are severe weather warnings. If these “weather watchers” deemed the conditions to be unfavorable, the business would be closed.
But the system only exists on paper, criticizes Max from the LWC. In his experience, the company only stops deliveries when many drivers cancel due to weather. But the drivers only received money for the missed shift if the entire operation was stopped. “Often nothing is paid,” reports Max.
In addition, after 6 p.m. and on weekends, i.e. at the times with the highest demand, there is hardly anyone in the office who can respond to extreme weather events, reports Max.
If you’re not prepared to drive in any weather, you won’t get any money and will be deactivated in the app
Max, Lieferando Workers Collective
Therefore, despite the frosty weather this year, there were only occasional interruptions of a few hours, but no full-day shutdown. “Whenever too many drivers have complained,” says Max.
Ali, another driverwith whom taz was able to speak, reports that the supply of winter equipment is also poor. He and his colleagues were asked months ago what equipment they needed, but nothing had been received yet. “People use their own stuff,” Ali says.
However, the situation is even worse with dubious subcontractors that Lieferando, Wolt and Uber Eats increasingly rely on. Many couriers there do not have a valid employment contract and receive instructions via a WhatsApp group, reports Max from the LWC. “If you’re not prepared to drive in any weather, you won’t get any money and will be deactivated in the app.”