Petition
for direct employment
We express couriers are losing our jobs because of outsourcing. How to stop this? Ban bogus subcontracting!
The Lieferando Workers Collective’s petition for direct employment of us couriers at delivery platforms like Lieferando, Wolt, UberEats & Co.
The federal government (CDU, CSU & SPD) does not want to force delivery platforms to stop outsourcing to criminal bogus subcontractors!
We need your help to change this!
↓ 2026 LWC PETITION PUBLICATION IN GERMANY
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What’s next?
Starting from
01.04.2026
Starting from:
22.04.2026
Starting from:
01.05.2026
Starting from:
01.06.2026
What do we petition for?
1. Requirement for direct employment of couriers at platform-based delivery services (prohibit the use of third-party personnel as express couriers in any form)
2. Consistent implementation of the EU Platform Work Directive (PWD), ensuring the same level of protection as for direct employment and strict joint and several liability without the possibility of exculpation (Article 3 PWD)
DIRECT
EMPLOYMENT
NOW!
Why this petition?
Subcontracting = ORGANIZED NEGLIGENCE
Lieferando, Wolt, and Uber Eats do not directly employ their couriers—they outsource them to “fleet partners.” Uber Eats has not directly hired a single courier since entering the market. Wolt has hardly any directly employed couriers left. Lieferando has been cutting at least 2,000 direct positions since early 2025 and is cutting more in 2026.
Despite outsourcing to bogus subcontractors, platforms keep full operational control. Platforms define when work needs to be done. They set the delivery routes. They monitor performance in real time. Work is tightly controlled by the platform while the legal responsibility is pushed to bogus subcontractors and the and economic risk is pushed to the workers.
Platforms control the work. But they avoid employer obligations. When authorities investigate, then bogus subcontractors vanish. This is organised negligence.
Only a ban on subcontracting would stop the negligence. Direct employment would place responsibility with the companies that control the work.
Subcontracting = ORGANIZED CRIME
The Lieferando Workers Collective (LWC) Berlin describes subcontractors as a “crime-inducing environment” or mafia-like:
The bogus subcontractors often call themselves “fleet managers”. They are mostly just WhatsApp contacts. There is no clear legal entity. Couriers do not know who is responsible.
Some couriers pay up to €500 for contracts. Others must “rent” their contracts. Fleet managers make threats and are violent when workers raise complaints.
The bogus subcontractors often pay out through middlemen in cash: no taxes, no social security payments. No minimum wage. No sick pay. No real protection.
Only a ban on subcontracting would remove these bogus subcontractors. Direct employment would make platforms directly responsible.
Subcontracting = NO CONSUMER RIGHTS
Food delivery requires hygiene and safe handling. The Food Hygiene Regulation (LMHV) and the EU Hygiene Regulations require cleaning and temperature monitoring of transport containers.
Often poorly isolated delivery bags are fixed on the bikes. Bikes are stored outside. The bags are rarely cleaned. This exposes food equipment to weather and pests (like rats). But when responsibility is fragmented, authorities have no clear point for an effective inspection.
Platforms outsource these employers’ obligations to bogus subcontractors and sub-subcontractors, who disappear or go bankrupt when problems arise.
Only a ban on subcontracting would clarify responsibility. With direct employment one operator would be accountable for food safety and consumer complaint.
Subcontracting = NO WORKERS RIGHTS
Bogus subcontractors offer no minimum wage, no minimum vacation time, no protection against dismissal, no sick pay, no workers council, and no collective bargaining agreements.
The Fairwork report on Germany (2025) gave UberEats and Wolt a score of 0 out of 10 stating that “the subcontractor model does not ensure fair labor standards.”
The LWC is not aware of a single subcontractor where minimum wage, minimum vacation time, continued pay during sick leave, or maternity protection is observed.
Only a ban on subcontracting would make the platform the legal employer. Direct employment would make workers rights enforceable.
Subcontracting = NO DATA PROTECTION
Consumers and workers on delivery platforms have almost no control over how their data is collected and used. Platforms track workers and consumers continuously, even when they don’t use the platforms app.
For example, Lieferando’s “Scoober” app collects around 39 data points per delivery, including location updates every 15–20 seconds, which the Data Protection Commissioner of Baden-Württemberg called “clearly unlawful.” In Italy, the authorities fined Deliveroo €2.5 million for opaque algorithmic monitoring and frequent location tracking. The Dutch authority imposed a €290 million GDPR fine on Uber for unlawful transfer of sensitive driver data to the United States.
The risks extend to consumers. The Gorillas data leak in 2021 exposed over a million order records, including names, addresses, and photos of home entrances.
Only a ban on subcontracting would improve accountability for costumers and workers. Direct employment would remove bogus subcontractors that obscure who is liable for data protection failures.
Subcontracting = SYSTEMATIC FAILURE
Bogus subcontracting lets platforms hide responsibility. Subcontractors are often strawmen, like a man in Poznań who was unknowingly registered as a Wolt subcontractor.
At the same time, actual ‘bosses’ disappear behind WhatsApp numbers. If your boss is a WhatsApp number, then you have no rights.
Only a ban on subcontracting would fix this by making platforms directly responsible for workers. Direct employment would ensure that there is a real employer with a fixed address and identifiable decision-makers.
Couriers and their representatives have repeatedly drawn public attention to this institutional failure across the entire sector, most recently at the hearing of the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs of the Berlin House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) on March 5, 2026.
Why direct employment?
Attorney Martin Bechert, who represents many couriers, describes delivery services as a “labor law laboratory” with a “crime-inducing environment”.
Caroline Dressel, professor of labor law at HTW Berlin, notes that the system is designed in such a way that customs and tax authorities can hardly “make sense of it”—responsibilities are deliberately obscured.
WZB researcher Patrick Feuerstein calls the shift from Lieferando to the subcontractor model an “absolute red flag”.
The third Fairwork report on Germany (2025) gave Uber Eats and Wolt a score of 0 out of 10:
“The subcontractor model does not ensure fair labor standards.”
The Hugo Sinzheimer Institute (HSI) has confirmed the constitutional and EU legal admissibility of mandatory direct employments in two expert opinions and has formulated a list of eight criteria:
“In any case, where these criteria are met, it is advisable to apply [the direct employment requirement] as well.”
LWC couriers are pleading with the federal and state governments:
Put an end to this inhumane suffering! Protect us delivery workers and consumers!
WhatsApp numbers can NOT be employers!
Ban bogus subcontracting! End the organized negligence! Direct employment NOW!
Who supports?
“One issue affects both delivery services and the meat industry — and the two are indeed comparable — : It’s become impossible to navigate this complex web, and no one knows which subcontractors and structures lie behind it. This has to do with worker participation. It has to do with labor rights, but it also has to do with exploitation. And above all, it has to do with illegal employment and the evasion of taxes and social security contributions.“
”Employee status is crucial. That’s important. It helps people and is at least a first step. A requirement for direct employment would help even more; I agree with you there.”
“When many people are promised a good job, but in reality they experience something completely different — namely, that they end up without health insurance, without social security, without occupational safety protections, and instead of fair pay, they often receive only a pittance — as we have heard, often not even that — then that is a dangerous trend. We must and will take action.”
“The traditional relationship between employer and employee, between the client and the person receiving instructions, no longer exists. This is a regulatory gap that we must close.”
“I am very grateful that our Labor Minister has stood by the food delivery workers and has clearly demonstrated: We will take action. – It is right that she advocates for direct employment in these cases.“
“In the platform delivery industry, working without an employment contract, the use of shell companies, and illegal employment are not isolated cases. It is systemic.”
“Not a single platform provider in Germany meets even the minimum requirements of international core labor standards, such as the minimum wage and occupational safety.”
“Shiwani Sharma [has] not been paid for three months. Her employer turns out to be a shell company; the money is gone. She sues, but the Berlin Labor Court rules against her. This is one case among thousands. That is why we must finally and urgently take legislative action”
“Riders don’t need another review. They finally need a law— and they need it now!“
“What sounds crazy is, unfortunately, a bitter reality in this industry. And this has to stop once and for all!”
“Subcontractors are systematically used as shell companies to deliberately circumvent German labor law and deceive the regulatory authorities.”
“What we urgently need is a ban on subcontractors in this industry, so that it is clear: if Wolt, Uber Eats, and Lieferando want to do business here, they must hire their drivers directly and, as employers, take direct responsibility for them”
“This must not become the norm; we have to stop this trend! You and I share this responsibility.”
Who is the LWC?
The Lieferando Workers Collective (LWC) is the largest self-organized group of couriers — the majority of whom are migrants — in Germany. In Berlin, we represent 1,500 couriers at Lieferando, as well as many at Wolt, UberEats, and an increasing number of bogus subcontractors. 80% of the German food delivery app platform business runs through Lieferando. The LWC represents approximately 30% of Lieferando couriers in Germany. Over 90% of orders are not delivered by Lieferando itself. We estimate that after the elections in 2026, every second Lieferando order in Germany handled by Lieferando’s own logistics will be delivered by a courier who is directly or indirectly supported or represented by the LWC. You order, we deliver!
