FAU-IAA, Direct Action #231 - "I was fired by SMS" --
Foreigners' Section struggle against a vegan fast food restaurant
in Berlin (de) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Here is a story about some working conditions me and my colleagues had to experience
during our time of working in a vegan fast food restaurant, YoYoFoodworld, in Berlin
Friedrichshain. This restaurant is hiding behind the mask of veganism, attracting people
in society that want to avoid places that are commercial, capitalistic, exploitative, and
not environmentally concerned. In the shop there are posters hanging on the wall for
upcoming concerts and events from Berlin's left wing and alternative scene. I soon came to
see that this place was nothing like it seems. ---- My boss, who is also the owner of the
shop, made it clear to me after some time of working there that workers should obey their
boss' wishes without further questions. He told me that "we aren't a collective", nobody
is allowed to question authority, and meetings are prohibited. The boss never has
individual talks with his workers unless it's necessary or if the workers themselves feel
the need to mention something.
Yet no one dares to say anything about the working conditions for fear of losing their
job.Everyone who starts working in the shop starts out working on probation. How long the
probation time runs is often uncertain. Wages are under minimum wage until you prove
yourself as a worthy employee. Not only does the boss save money on paying his workers a
low salary, he also saves money by bad working contracts, meaning that he doesn't have to
pay any extra fees or costs for his employees, such as taxes, insurance or pension. The
shop is open every day of the year, and the boss forces his workers to work without any
extra payment on days like 1st of May, New Year's Eve or Christmas. The working contracts
are different from worker to worker, and he likes to make certain workers feel special by
giving them a slightly higher salary and other benefits.Work in this place is really
tough, physical work. There are always two people less than needed for the given work
load, putting a lot of stress and pressure on the workers. The boss often orders one of
the workers to leave earlier so that he doesn't have to pay for two.
Foto: Leyla Ro Laren
There a no scheduled breaks since there's often no time to even take a break. This is
something the workers worked out amongst themselves, but it's often just a question of a
five minute break for a smoke or a quick bite to eat.The boss likes to have someone from
the staff that he bullies, and he often fires people based on his dislike for them. In my
case he knew that I was going to cut down on shifts because I often complained about the
conditions to him. I had told him that from the end of the summer I wanted to work less. A
few weeks later he sent me a text message about my upcoming shift, telling me I wasn't
needed at work that day. I said that it was fine and asked when my next shift was. He then
sent me one more text telling me that I never needed to come back to work again. His
reason was over a trivial dispute about cooking the week previously. I was fired by SMS
without warning.
I was shocked but not too surprised, since this is the way my boss fired a lot of workers
before. I knew that this is not the correct way to fire someone so I went to the FAU to
see what we could do. We went to the workers justice department to bring my case to court,
since it became apparent that I was fired illegally. We also gave my boss the chance to
make things right and for him to avoid having to go to court. We wrote him a letter with
our demands, which basically was for him to fire me on paper and to pay my salary until my
working contract ends. He got furious with me and threatened me in text messages. I
ignored those threats and waited for a decent answer from my boss on how he wanted to
continue this process. Since he didn't get back to me or the FAU, we decided to pay him a
visit on the expiration date of the letter we sent to him.
We went together with five comrades from FAU to the shop on a day we knew he would be
there, and we explained to my boss why we were there and how the situation currently
stood. My boss was at this point of time really angry and couldn't stick to the topic, but
we explained again that if he does everything according to the law there won't be a court
case. He said he would transfer my salary the same day, get my payrolls and give me the
notification that I got fired on paper.Two days passed without any action on his behalf,
so myself and one other comrade from FAU made a return visit. My boss was now in a calmer
mood but he wouldn't look at me and he refused to discuss the situation. He tried to
change the topic a few times, but we repeated that we didn't come there to talk about what
happened the other day. He gave me the papers and three days later the outstanding wages
were paid into my account, so I withdrew the court case as promised.The workers at YoYo's
still get treated incredibly badly. According to my now former boss he fired me to set an
example, and to scare other employees from questioning his authority. By firing me he
tried to show that not even the longtime workers were safe. He continues to run the shop
like before. He still insults the staff. Recently, a former colleague decided to quit
working for him because of repeated insults that made the place unbearable. This place
might be vegan, but has nothing to do with vegan values.
Foreigners' Section / FAU Berlin
https://www.direkteaktion.org/231/fired-by-sms
