We are here as former workers of EcoCarrier and VeloCarrier
to protest against the conditions
that we had to endure during our time with the company.
Now, all the workers have been terminated at this point,
between December and January
with these two companies, EcoCarrier and VeloCarrier.
We were delivering groceries for REWE, with cargo bikes
around the city, especially here in Neukölln, and in Prenzlauer Berg.
And we are here in front of REWE to ask, leave it to
double check what the conditions of their subcontractors are,
what the working conditions of people working there are,
because we think it's not only important to offer a service
which is sustainable in terms of climate,
which is delivering by bike,
but also to be sure,
that the conditions of the workers are good
and that is also part of a sustainable environment.
To have workers who are secure in their job,
who drive a safe bike, which are regularly maintained,
which was not the case,
and many other things.
I want to underline that
not even one month before the first half of the terminations came,
the CEO of the company came to Berlin, from Stuttgart, where the company is based,
to ensure us that our jobs were safe,
and they were even thinking of adding more volume of work.
And then not after a month later,
we received the first half of the termination.
When we had already started meeting and trying to see
what we could do to better our working conditions.
So the group kind of organized itself
before the first terminations came.
We had to use the bikes that were broken to deliver our stuff.
I had two accidents
and the people were like: " Oh, did you ride it wrong?"
"Did you use the brakes wrong?"
And I thought: "Yeah, it must be me."
It must be because I did something wrong.
And when things got really worse and worse and people started talking
and organizing themselves more,
there was a small group starting to organize themselves and to meet up
and to say: "We need to change our working environment."
Then I noticed, and then we all noticed,
that the problems weren't individual problems, but structural problems.
So this is also something I learned and I would take from this experience
that it is crucial to talk to each other, how we experience work
and what are our individual working conditions
Because perhaps a problem that I am experiencing is not my individual problem
with the boss, but a systemic problem through the whole company.
So talking to each other, exchanging numbers
and critically asking
"What are our working conditions?" is so important.
What we are fighting for at the moment,
is for the company to pay us all the missing wages.
And we are asking for an Abfindung (settlement)
and also to be in general to be heard from the company and to
speak with them now since it was not possible
to speak with them when we were still employed.
There are also some negotiations ongoing and we are very happy about it
and we invite even once more the CEO of the company to come to this negotiation
and to continue this negotiation with us,
with the FAU, the union.
And yeah, that's what we demand.