The situation of food couriers in Berlin

On 10 July 2025, the event ‘Exploitation via app’ took place in Berlin. It was about the working conditions at food delivery services in Berlin and the resistance of workers.

We show an excerpt from Samee Ullah's talk. Samee is part of the Lieferando Workers' Collective and mamber of the works council of Lieferando in Berlin. He impressively describes the situation of migrant food couriers. The ‘fleet partners’ he mentions in the video are subcontractors who employ the workers for the large delivery platforms such as Wolt or UberEats. The workers have to pay to be included in the ‘fleet’ in the first place. The fleet partners do not give the food couriers employment contracts, withhold 30% of their wages and use fake IDs. Although the workers have reported these conditions and major media have reported on them, the authorities do not take action.

On 29 August 2025, a strike meeting of Lieferando couriers will take place in Postdam. Lieferando is the only food delivery service that still employs part of its workforce on a permanent basis. That will probably be over in future. Lieferando is closing 34 of its locations. The press release from the Lieferando Workers' Collective states:

"The food delivery giant Lieferando is closing its own logistics operation in Potsdam and outsourcing operations to subcontractors in a shift towards the Wolt / Uber Eats model. Over 60 Potsdam couriers with permanent contracts are losing their legal jobs and will be under pressure to take jobs work in the crime-ridden subcontractor swamp in the future! Lieferando wants to fire well over 2,000 couriers throughout Germany! The couriers say that outsourcing to subcontractors like Fleetlery GmbH undermines working conditions and erodes regulations and will spread to other industries if it is left unchallenged."

Anyone who wants to support the drivers can come to Potsdam on 29 September.

* Time: From 12:00 to 20:00 (colleagues are planning public actions from 15:00)
* Location: freiland Potsdam: Friedrich-Engels-Straße 22, 14473 Potsdam, House 1
* Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xVEnA23fCzqCzxW19