On June 30, more than 150 freelancers will have their last working day at Mjam. They were terminated suddenly, without warning and without giving reasons, in May. Meanwhile, new riders are still being hired. It is even tempted with bonuses to recommend this job to friends and According to the latest news, Mjam is looking for 1000 new employees. Hire and Fire is the name of this strategy, which allows so much flexibility. That would hardly be possible with a works council. Yes, real employment contracts with guarantees for employees and employers, on the other hand, are rather inflexible. That is why Mjam prefers freelancers. With so much uncertainty as to whether the business would ever be profitable, you would understandably prefer to be able to react quickly. Soon everyone will know someone who worked at Mjam.
The 150 employees who have been laid off are by no means unreliable or poorly performing workers. Many of them depend on the job and have been working 8 hours a day for quite some time. Some had bought an e-bike - at their own expense, of course, in order to be able to work as much as possible, and now have to pay off installments, or debts with friends from whom they borrowed money for an e-bike. Some have been working for Mjam for years and have served well regularly and reliably throughout the pandemic.
You would think that the internal evaluation system would automatically screen out riders. As a result, the riders are categorized into 5 different so-called batches according to a few reliability parameters. Anyone who is in batch 1 gets access to the shift plan first and can choose the best shifts. Anyone who is in batch 4 or 5 often doesn't get any more shifts at all and therefore has a hard time getting out of there. Quite a few of the dismissed colleagues were actually in batch 2 to 3, sometimes even in batch 1. They had no problem getting shifts even until their last working day on June 30, because they are good and largely reliable riders who also depend on the job.
When asked by employees who are responsible for arranging shifts and supervising the riders, no one could say exactly what criteria were used for the layoffs. Some thought it was about no-shows. Freelancers don't have to give reasons if they can't come to work. If something suddenly comes up, a migraine attack, a suddenly ill child, a handyman who is late, it doesn't matter, a freelancer can stay away from work without applying for vacation 2 weeks in advance or reporting a sick note from the doctor. In fact, this is also the reason why many freelancers prefer this form of employment.
Among freelancers, there are quite a few family fathers who appreciate this flexibility because life with children is often unpredictable. However, these colleagues in particular also need job security. Many colleagues choose the free service contract because it allows them to work more than 40 hours and earn the income necessary for their citizenship or family reunification. The alleged voluntariness with which they accept a free service contract is often in reality economic hardship and relative lack of alternative. For freelancers, there is no paid vacation, no continued payment of pay in the event of illness, no job or income security, no company involvement such as a works council, which must also be informed of dismissals and may be able to prevent them.
The hire & fire strategy is therefore difficult to achieve with real service contracts. On the other hand, freelance service contracts are The secret of surviving and growing despite a lack of profitability. The Chamber of Commerce, as well as the orange-colored competition, which employs 100% of its own fleet with genuine service contracts and pays according to a collective agreement, must ask themselves whether this is still fair competition.
But there is still an opportunity for the 150 colleagues: Since mass termination must be reported to AMS as part of the early warning system 30 days before the notice is sent out, and the associated law (AMFG §45a) also applies to freelancers, the cancellations are legally ineffective, i.e. formally invalid. Are you affected? Get in touch with us, we are in contact with the Chamber of Labour about this!
