Strike in Innsbruck

Food delivery drivers don’t want to go hungry

Those affected also took to the streets in Innsbruck.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Bicycle messengers and food delivery workers went on strike on Tuesday evening in several Austrian cities, including Innsbruck. If employers do not offer more pay, further action is planned.

It was the second strike in a week, for which bicycle messengers and food delivery workers gathered in several Austrian cities in the early evening. A group also stopped work in Innsbruck.

"Ten weeks ago, we already had a warning strike," explains Fabian Warzilek, works council chairman at food delivery service Lieferando and member of the collective bargaining team, "now we are striking more often and for longer. And at the times when it really hurts: at lunchtime or in the evening."

A full-day strike is planned in two weeks' time.

Fabian Warzilek, Betriebsratsvorsitzender Lieferando

So far, however, there has been no response: "We haven't heard anything from the Chamber of Commerce yet, nor from the company," explained Warzilek before the strike. After further protests, he hopes that this will change: "A full-day strike is planned in two weeks' time."

Fabian Warzilek (center) formulated the central demands of the food suppliers: "More pay and better protection."(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

KV wage at 10 euros, increase demanded
From 6 pm, the strikers marched from the Lieferando headquarters in Innsbruck to the ÖGB building, where live broadcasts to other strike locations and presentations awaited them. The bicycle and food delivery workers are primarily fighting for a higher wage agreement. Negotiations have been going on since November and the employers are currently offering 5.8 percent. With rolling inflation of 8.7 percent, this is not enough, explains Warzilek. The collective agreement currently stipulates an hourly wage of 10 euros; Lieferando drivers in Innsbruck earn a little more.

There are around 250 to 300 bicycle couriers and deliverers in Tyrol. According to Warzilek, around 100 to 120 people are covered by a collective agreement - the employees of Lieferando and courier services. Those who drive for Lieferando's competitor Foodora often have no collective agreement - "most of them are freelancers or bogus self-employed".