Full transcript
0:01Within the apps that direct them, they're just numbers.
0:07Thousands of them navigate our streets to deliver food.
0:10But usually, their stories go untold.
0:14I would really like to talk in front of this camera
0:17with not my face blurred.
0:20But we have to live in the shadows for now.
0:22They live in fear of their bosses and debt.
0:26They're under constant pressure.
0:32In Germany, many couriers working
0:34for food delivery companies like Wolt, UberEats,
0:36and Lieferando are from India.
0:39They take directions from apps, and often are exploited by criminals.
0:42It happens in plain sight, and yet often goes unnoticed.
0:47The society doesn't know what's going on with us.
0:50They simply see us as the guys who are delivering the orders.
1:05Outside Berlin's Labor Court, a group of couriers are protesting
1:09against poor working conditions.
1:13It's systematic exploitation of migrant workers.
1:16Why you don't see any Germans doing this job?
1:19Just think.
1:26The demonstrators are here because of this woman:
1:28Shiwani Sharma.
1:53Together with lawyer Martin Bechert, Shiwani Sharma is suing the delivery
1:57platform Wolt over unpaid wages.
2:02The complaint dates back to her time as a student in Berlin.
2:07Looking for work to finance her studies, she was put in touch
2:09with a Wolt subcontractor.
2:13She was taken to a cell phone store in Berlin's Neukölln district,
2:16where she presented her residence permit and other documents.
2:21Shortly afterwards, her profile on the Wolt app was activated,
2:25and she began delivering food.
2:29She says she then worked for three months,
2:32but never received the 3,500 euros she was owed in wages.
2:37She and other couriers went back to the cell phone store to complain.
2:41But they were told the owner had left
2:43the city, taking Sharma's money with him.
2:46A few days later, he called her.
3:10For several months, we've been accompanying another food courier.
3:14We call him "Lovepreet"– which is not his real name.
3:19He wants to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation from his bosses.
3:24Today, he's on his way to pick up his wages.
3:26He's only just been told where to go to collect them.
3:36He receives part of his pay "under the table".
3:39He has a part-time employment contract, but it's just for show.
4:03Lovepreet's boss is an UberEats subcontractor,
4:07what's known as a "fleet partner."
4:09The man recruits food couriers and pays them.
4:15What's up? You'll transfer the rest today or tomorrow?
4:19It's already been transferred.
4:20It'll arrive tomorrow or the day after.
4:26Hide the envelope well.
4:28Sure. And one more thing: Your pay packet is really thin.
4:32You have to work harder.
4:34Uber fires low performers.
4:36It's no joke. If you want to keep working, try harder, okay?
4:41Okay. She's the boss.
4:43They'll fire us both.
4:45Work harder, okay?
4:48Bye. Lovepreet's boss pays him based on sales, not by the hour – even
4:53though food couriers in Germany aren't allowed to be paid that way.
4:59To get around the law, his boss has set up a sophisticated
5:01fraudulent accounting system.
5:05To cover his tracks, he even pays Lovepreet's
5:07health insurance premium, which he then recoups
5:09from him, as well as deducting a further 30 per cent from his pay.
5:14We documented Lovepreet's courier work for a month.
5:17Altogether, he earned the equivalent of an hourly
5:20wage of seven euros and one cent – approximately half the minimum wage.
5:27When we asked UberEats about the issue, they responded:
5:31"Our partners are contractually obliged to comply with all applicable legal requirements."
5:37The company said they would review the information, and that they had
5:41terminated their partnership with Lovepreet's boss.
5:45A company worth billions of dollars, who's operating in so many countries…
5:51I don't think they care about what is happening in Berlin.
5:58UberEats courier Dheeraj Tyagi doesn't want to show his face
6:01on camera either.
6:03He, too, has been employed by a subcontractor.
6:07UberEats itself doesn't directly employ couriers.
6:13You get paid by the order, not by the hour.
6:16So if you make orders you make good money, but if you're out there
6:20and you don't have any orders you'll not be getting paid.
6:26Doesn't matter if you stand there for like ten hours or twelve hours.
6:32In fact, his student visa only allows him to work 20 hours per week.
6:37But that's not enough to live on.
6:41And this was the best job he could find at the time.
6:47That is what is happening with the students in Berlin.
6:50Since I think more and more students
6:52are coming, I think we should at least earn decent.
6:55And we can also live like Europeans, you know?
6:58It's not like we came here just to be oppressed.
7:04After more than ten hours on the streets, Tyagi arrives home.
7:09He lives with four other young men from India.
7:11They all came to Berlin to study,
7:15and all of them work for delivery platforms.
7:18I belong to a very very small town so I went to a guy and I said
7:22that I want to go to Germany to pursue my masters.
7:29And he said, "Okay, I'll get you into a private university."
7:33I said okay.
7:35He said, "I'll take two thousand euros from you."
7:43Like Tyagi, many young Indians hope that studying
7:46in Germany will lead to a better future.
7:49Since a new migration deal between the two nations
7:52was signed in March 2023, the number of Indian students
7:55in Germany has jumped by about 50 percent, to around 60,000.
8:05Indians now make up the biggest group
8:07of international students in the country.
8:10To secure a spot at a German university,
8:12they often use placement agencies like this one.
8:16We do a lot of online marketing.
8:18Then many students come to us from word of mouth,
8:21students who we have sent previously, so their references come
8:24to us, their friends and families.
8:28Then we have channel partners, we have partnerships with various
8:31education companies, schools, colleges across India.
8:35And they promote our partner universities'
8:38programs and send us students.
8:40Numerous agencies promote German higher education,
8:43often with extensive social media campaigns.
8:46They get a commission for each person they recruit.
8:49Planning to study in Germany?
8:51Is Germany your dream destination?
8:53They place as many students as they can.
8:55If a student is eligible for public universities,
8:58if they have at least 60% marks, then they tend to get admission
9:01in public universities.
9:03If they have less than 60% marks, they're not eligible for public
9:06universities, so then we tend to send them for private universities.
9:16Parmod Kumar also used an agency to get a university placement.
9:21His family sent him to Germany with high hopes.
9:28I have not tell my home because I do not want my parents to take
9:33any stress which I'm going through here, because they
9:37cannot solve anything from there.
9:40I am not coming from a very rich family,
9:42they cannot even help me financially.
9:45The loan is on their head and they have already provided
9:48me around 20 lakhs of loan.
9:5220 lakhs rupees, so it is around 20,000 euro here.
9:57Half of that money is in an account from which he's allowed to withdraw
10:00just under 1,000 euros per month.
10:04That's a condition of his stay in Germany.
10:08The other half he needs for tuition fees.
10:12Kumar enrolled in a master's degree in data management
10:15at the "International University" or I-U– a private institution.
10:21I went to like check the website and then I saw pictures
10:26on the platform that they have a very good campus
10:31and they were a good university.
10:36So according to that I chose this university
10:40and they were offering some subjects.
10:45The I-U is Germany's largest university.
10:48According to its own figures, it has approximately 130,000 students
10:52across 37 campuses nationwide.
10:57Tuition costs range from 9,000 euros to 16,000 euros.
11:02The I-U's Berlin campus has several thousand students,
11:05many of whom come from India.
11:09It's located here, at the back of this shopping center.
11:16So when I came here and when I saw all the shops, I mean, I was totally…
11:21this was not as I expected.
11:25I did not even expect one percent of this.
11:28I mean, it was totally opposite.
11:30So from that day, I was already stressed
11:34and it was totally...
11:36I felt like I had been trapped and falsely advertised
11:44totally… I can't describe it in words but it angered
11:50me a lot at that time.
11:55When we contacted the university administration, they told us that
11:59the campus spans six levels, with numerous seminar rooms,
12:02study areas, and workspaces.
12:07They didn't address the fact that students
12:09like Parmod Kumar felt misled.
12:15Last semester, Kumar became seriously ill.
12:20As a result, he wasn't able to pay his tuition fees.
12:24No money, no work and no studies… even I don't know how I'm managing
12:32what I'm going through.
12:36He was taken off the university's student registry, which put his
12:39residence permit at risk.
12:42In order to get a new permit, Kumar urgently needed a job.
12:50The high fees charged by private universities
12:52put many Indian students under financial pressure
12:55right from the start.
12:58And there are few jobs available to those
13:00without good German language skills.
13:03That's where food delivery comes in: couriers don't need to speak German.
13:09Students share the WhatsApp details of fleet partners.
13:13To work for a fleet, you first have to pay them.
13:22Fleet partners can charge
13:24between 50 and 1,000 euros.
13:27It's essentially a kind of admission fee.
13:35One courier wore a hidden camera to show us how the process
13:38sometimes works.
13:40At a coworking space near Potsdamer Platz
13:42in the center of Berlin, a man claimed to be starting
13:45up a fleet for UberEats.
13:48He checked the courier's health insurance card
13:50and his Indian passport.
13:52He kept a list of all the new couriers.
13:54There were already more than 80 names,
13:56and each of them has been charged €500.
14:00But what for, exactly?
14:03We need to draw up your employment contract with
14:05all the necessary details.
14:08Social security number, health insurance, and everything else.
14:13Either you pay for it, or I can't help you.
14:17Demanding these sorts of payments is against the law.
14:27Back at Berlin's Labor Court, Shiwani Sharma has had a setback
14:31in her quest to recover her unpaid wages from Wolt.
14:35At the hearing, the judge ruled that the company does not have to pay her.
14:40That's because she was employed by a subcontractor, not by Wolt itself.
14:46So the other company is responsible, even
14:48though Sharma has never even heard of it.
15:07In court, Wolt stated that the subcontractor
15:09who employed Sharma was called IMOQX, or IMOQX GmbH.
15:15Wolt had entered into a working contract with IMOQX:
15:19Wolt would provide the technology, and IMOQX would supply the couriers.
15:28The contract was signed by the then-managing directors
15:31of Wolt Germany, and the managing director of IMOQX, who only signed
15:35his first name, Jarosław.
15:45Records show that IMOQX has its offices in a village in Brandenburg,
15:48about an hour's drive from Berlin.
15:50According to the commercial register, this is still the company's premises.
15:55That aroused the suspicions of Sharma's lawyer, Martin Bechert.
16:04IMOQX is a limited liability company, with managing directors.
16:08Were you able to contact them?
16:10No. In my opinion, it's not a real company.
16:12It's just a shell.
16:14There's nothing there, just an entry in the commercial register
16:17and maybe a post office box.
16:21So what's it for?
16:23It's just there to circumvent German labor law, and maybe
16:27other associated laws too.
16:34But finding evidence of wrongdoing is difficult.
16:41IMOQX's managing director, the man who signed his name
16:44as Jarosław on the contract, appears in the commercial register as running
16:47two other German companies.
16:50There's a trading company, which we can't find at its
16:52listed business address in southern Berlin… and
16:54a construction company, which has no office at all.
16:59Jarosław's last known registered address in Germany turns
17:01out to be an abandoned village store.
17:14There are indications that the IMOQX managing
17:17director actually lives here, in the Polish city of Poznań.
17:21We were able to trace him through documents belonging
17:23to a Czech company that he also supposedly runs.
17:27His address is a community of allotment gardens
17:30on the outskirts of the city.
17:46It's the right place, but he isn't there.
17:51Hi, we're looking for Jarosław.
17:54Do you know him?
17:56What's up?
17:59We're from Berlin and we're making
18:02a film, and he's the CEO of four companies.
18:09Hmm. It's about companies like Wolt.
18:17The neighbors say he's often here, but most
18:19of the time he's drunk.
18:22No one knows where he is.
18:27After searching for several days, we find him.
18:31Jarosław?
18:33Yes? Nice to meet you.
18:35Maybe you can tell us something about this.
18:37You're the CEO of several companies in Germany.
18:41Do you know anything about this?
18:45No. This company had 50 employees.
18:48And this one is registered in Luckau, in Brandenburg.
18:52Do you know about this?
18:53I don't even know where that is!
18:57You have no idea?
18:59Let me tell you.
19:01This company here had a contract with Wolt.
19:05Have you heard about that?
19:08No. Wolt?
19:10I've heard of them, yes.
19:11Something to do with food?
19:13Delivery, right?
19:14It's in Poland too, but…
19:15But it says here that you… Look, that's your name.
19:21Yeah, I see it.
19:23It says you had a contract with a man named Henrik Riedl.
19:29I don't know that guy.
19:31This is the first time I'm hearing any of this.
19:34Seriously. Germany?
19:36I'm shocked. In court, Wolt claimed to have
19:40actively collaborated with the man.
19:44Court documents state that IMOQX and Wolt had
19:47formed a joint operation with a management structure
19:50that: "jointly planned and directed the specific activities."
19:54The management structure consisted of: "the managing director
19:57of the fleet partner" – in other words Jarosław – and managers from Wolt.
20:05I once saw an Indian – on a tram.
20:07I have nothing to do with them.
20:09I don't understand what this is all about.
20:11Do I look like a manager?
20:13You've seen my house.
20:14If I were the boss of 50 people, would I be living here?
20:20Jarosław was used as a front-man.
20:23He knows absolutely nothing about the businesses he's
20:25supposed to have managed.
20:28His name was used for the sake of appearances.
20:31But by whom?
20:34And why?
20:39When we asked Wolt to explain, they replied that contracts such
20:43as the one with IMOQX "serve to clearly define responsibilities"
20:46and are "not intended to circumvent labor and employment laws."
20:53The company also said that: "The collaboration
20:55with IMOQX GmbH was terminated in early January 2023
20:58after violations of our guidelines were identified."
21:03They wouldn't comment on IMOQX's supposed
21:05managing director, or the statements
21:07they made in court.
21:09We show Shiwani Sharma's lawyer a photo
21:11of Jarosław.
21:18Yes, that's exactly what I expected.
21:19It shows what kind of game Wolt is playing here.
21:23Personally, I would say that organized crime
21:25is starting to grow in this entire sector.
21:28The app operators are certainly not doing anything to prevent it.
21:33So they're creating the conditions for criminality
21:36right here in Germany.
21:43Tyagi's boss may also be a criminal.
21:46Moldovan authorities have been searching for him
21:48with an international arrest warrant.
21:51But he still runs an UberEats subcontractor in Berlin.
21:55Tyagi and the other couriers are no longer willing to accept
21:58their working conditions.
22:01I don't think Uber had any strike before.
22:05It's a really big deal because never ever have
22:08Indian students done this in Germany.
22:14The couriers organize via a 700-member WhatsApp group.
22:18Their goal: to get as many riders as possible
22:20to decline delivery requests.
22:23The response was really, really good.
22:25For the first day, I rarely saw any bikes.
22:30The workers also email UberEats, demanding better pay.
22:34But their subcontractor responds to the strike with an alarming
22:37audio message:
22:40Guys, if someone stops you in the street,
22:44just show me the face.
22:48If he doesn't know what Mafia is we will show him what Mafia is.
22:54The bosses of the subcontractors are targeting strike leaders like Tyagi.
23:03Take a photo of him, and I will come with my boys and we will f**k him.
23:11Later, two of the bosses beat one of the striking couriers so badly
23:14that he ends up in hospital.
23:17Tyagi's boss fires him.
23:25You're supporting this, what do you
23:26call it, protest.
23:28Please stop working.
23:30We will send you the termination.
23:33Sign on it and thank you very much.
23:37In Uber, a fleet partner can remove you whenever he wants.
23:42So there's no such thing as notice period.
23:45By the following day, Tyagi can no longer log into the app.
23:52So, I was employed.
23:55And the next second I was searching for work.
23:59As simple as that.
24:00Up until now, conditions
24:02at a rival delivery platform, Lieferando, have been very different.
24:06Couriers are directly employed, there are employee representatives,
24:10and strikes are legal.
24:14It's not fair that work like this only pays minimum wage.
24:18We're calling on Lieferando to pay at least 15 euros for this work,
24:21and that is definitely achievable!
24:25But unions say that working conditions are deteriorating.
24:34For months, Lieferando has been building a shadow fleet,
24:37where employees are hired by sub-sub-subcontractors.
24:39Lieferando is abandoning responsibility for worker
24:43safety, worker protection, and paying employees.
24:50Until recently, Lieferando couriers had been permanent employees.
24:56But since early 2025, the food delivery company has been expanding
25:00its collaboration with so-called fleet partners, leaving its couriers
25:04to deal with the consequences.
25:12In June 2025, about 60 food couriers gathered
25:15on a quiet street in Berlin's Neukölln district, after being
25:18summoned there by their bosses via WhatsApp.
25:39An estimated 50,000 euros in cash was brought by car and handed
25:43over to a man wearing orange.
25:47The couriers were told to wait in small groups, spread
25:50out along the side streets.
25:53They then received envelopes of cash –
25:55apparently an under-the-table payment.
25:59The recipients told us they didn't even have employment contracts.
26:07The action seemed to involve a courier fleet called Fleetlery.
26:11It's Lieferando's most important subcontractor, managing
26:15around 2,000 food couriers across Germany.
26:20Fleetlery is based in Hamburg.
26:24Its headquarters is a coworking space, where Fleetlery shares
26:26a mailbox with 40 other companies.
26:34When asked about the events in Berlin, the company
26:36replied: "Fleetlery does not pay wages in cash,
26:40neither directly nor through authorized
26:42regional partner companies.
26:45If individuals act on our behalf without authorization, they are
26:49unauthorized third parties.
26:53Fleetlery has clear contractual requirements
26:56and continuously monitors compliance."
27:02Hi, welcome to the second all-hands meeting of the year.
27:07In July 2025, Lieferando made an internal employee announcement.
27:14We've made incredible progress so far, and I'd like to thank
27:17you all for that.
27:20But as you know, we have some changes ahead.
27:24Lieferando relies on couriers who are permanently employed.
27:28And our current system isn't agile enough.
27:32A few days earlier, the company had announced that 2,000
27:34couriers would be laid off at the end of the year.
27:38That's one-fifth of all delivery riders and drivers.
27:42Lieferando said that relying more on subcontractors would make
27:46deliveries more agile and efficient.
27:53It's important to remember that even in these difficult
27:56times, with so many changes, we as a company want to uphold
27:59our values, to keep standing for values like diversity,
28:03tolerance, and inclusivity, and of course to continue
28:05to be there for you.
28:09On the question of outsourcing, Lieferando told us: "Clear rules
28:14are followed when selecting fleet partners, and we require
28:17more than just compliance with all rights and laws.
28:21We conduct regular monitoring, and should we become aware
28:24of any violations, we take appropriate measures,
28:26up to and including terminating the partnership."
28:34Despite the court ruling, Shiwani Sharma isn't
28:36ready to give up yet.
28:39She's appealing to a higher court.
28:42We show her the photo of her supposed boss
28:44from Poznań, Poland.
28:46We drove to Poland to find him and we have found him.
28:51You went there? We went there and on paper this was your boss.
29:18Wolt is based in Finland.
29:21Its global headquarters are housed in this building
29:23in the capital, Helsinki.
29:25The company recently moved in here, which was cause for celebration…
29:29This is our new Office.
29:36There's even a well-produced video on YouTube, showing
29:39off the various features of the office.
29:43This is how we get lunch, this where we take calls,
29:46this is where we don't take calls, this is where we talk
29:48about funny things that happened on calls.
29:53Sharma shows us the apartment where she used to live.
30:17And how much money did she want for this?
30:41She and her husband now have a nicer apartment, but not for long.
30:45They're only staying there temporarily.
31:18Many Indian students have limited residence permits and low income.
31:23That can be a bad combination when it comes to renting a home
31:26in the current overpriced market.
31:33This tiny bedroom is going for 600 euros per month.
31:40But for Tyagi, there's some good news.
31:43After struggling as a courier, he's now moving on.
31:47Now actually I have another job, and I don't work for him anymore.
31:51That's why I can show my face.
31:57A friend helped him get a job at a large supermarket chain.
32:00It's a permanent contract, paying minimum wage – and his employer
32:04actually pays him what he earns.
32:06He also now feels comfortable going to the doctor when he's sick.
32:10Now there's a sense of security.
32:12I'll be getting paid on the first of this month
32:14and on the first of every month.
32:18And nobody's here to cut my salary.
32:21There's something like that you're not dependent on your luck.
32:26My mindset has changed dramatically since I joined this new job.
32:44Tyagi has now finished his studies.
32:47So this is my university: BSBI.
32:52And this is where I did my master's.
32:56Yeah.
33:00BSBI stands for The Berlin School
33:02of Business and Innovation.
33:04Like the IU, it's a private institution.
33:08Actually it's a pretty small institution I think,
33:11because you can see you have Snipes right there.
33:14I don't think any other educational institute has a Snipes in the campus.
33:19I don't know what it is, but that's how it is, you know?
33:27Tyagi's master's program cost him nearly 10,000 euros.
33:31So far, it hasn't landed him a good job.
33:37He talks to some other students about their experiences.
33:41It's a private university but it's good.
33:43It's good?
33:44Better than public? Yeah?
33:46Better than public?
33:50Do you think after graduating
33:52from here, you'll have a better chance
33:55of getting a job?
33:56Truly that's a big question to every student who's studying here.
34:01Many of the companies I've applied to say, "BSBI is a private university
34:04and they give admission so easily so we don't hire students from BSBI."
34:11Do you think, like, if you have a chance
34:13right now of going to a public university…?
34:15But maybe I can't because I paid two years of fees.
34:20It's a huge amount, it's 8,000 per year.
34:23The Indian students call it a university, but BSBI isn't one.
34:30It's an institution that's outside Germany's formal
34:32higher education system.
34:35It works together with overseas universities,
34:38a practice known as franchising.
34:42That means that BSBI offers degrees from foreign universities
34:45and teaches according to their curricula.
34:49One example is the Italian online university "Uninettuno."
34:55The BSBI website says that such degrees are
34:57state-recognized in Germany.
35:02But there are serious doubts about whether that's true.
35:07In Germany, the recognition of foreign qualifications
35:10is governed by the Central Office for Foreign Education.
35:15It told us that English-language degrees from Italy's "Uninettuno",
35:18which are awarded after courses at BSBI, "are not recognized in Germany,
35:23as they're not regular degrees under Italian higher education law."
35:33After an amendment to the Higher Education Act,
35:34the state of Berlin now no longer grants new licenses
35:37for these sorts of franchise partnerships – because of concerns
35:41about the quality of education.
35:44But existing institutions like the BSBI are allowed
35:47to continue operating.
35:50BSBI's parent company also runs a student housing facility
35:54in Zossen, south of Berlin.
35:57According to the website, prices start at 599 euros
36:00for a shared room.
36:05For its part, BSBI disputes
36:08what we were told by the Central Office
36:09for Foreign Education.
36:15It says that students' degrees are awarded by state-recognized
36:18international universities, and therefore recognition
36:22in Germany isn't required.
36:35Meanwhile, Indian students continue to be placed
36:39at institutions like BSBI.
36:46I would say there's not much difference in terms
36:48of quality of education in the private universities.
36:51Business schools like BSBI for example, I read about them.
36:54There are mixed reports let's say.
36:59No comments on that.
37:03Have you ever thought about skipping the cooperation
37:06with universities like BSBI?
37:10No comments.
37:21Germany's ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, welcomes
37:24the fact that students and skilled workers
37:26come to Germany.
37:30But he also sees a negative trend in the current system.
37:40Some Indians, especially men, are causing us a bit
37:43of a headache because they attend institutions that we're critical of.
37:48The reason we're critical of these places is that
37:50they're private institutions, similar to universities, often
37:54with ties to other countries, and they're aggressively marketing
37:57themselves here in India.
38:06There are indications that many of these students end up in a cycle
38:10of debt, unable to pay tuition fees and working excessively long hours,
38:13often in illegal employment.
38:17A lot of the time, their housing conditions are also precarious.
38:20That can't be in our interest.
38:30Tyagi has been looking back at some
38:32of the decisions he's made.
38:35I think when a guy wants to come to a foreign country he takes
38:37a blindside.
38:40He thinks: "It'll not happen with me.
38:44Maybe they are losers.
38:45I'll go, I'll get a job.
38:46I'll work harder, I'll work smarter."
38:49Something like that.
38:51I don't think they can know.
38:52How can they know?
38:55I had no idea about the colleges, private or public, I had no idea
39:00whether I'll get a job or something like that.
39:04If they know the situation's bad they'll stay in India,
39:07they'll do something else.
39:12Hello everybody, it's a big day for us!
39:20In September 2025, a self-organized group of food couriers called
39:24the Lieferando Workers Collective held a demonstration in Berlin.
39:35They're against outsourcing in the delivery industry,
39:38and they want to prevent similar practices from spreading
39:40to other sectors of the economy.
39:48The reason that we are here in front of headquarters…
39:50this is not the issue that only riders have to address, this thing.
39:54It's an issue that affects the whole society.
39:56And this criminal subcontracting is not acceptable.
40:00We want legal work.
40:02We want equal rights, for also migrant workers.
40:05They should get paid according to the German working conditions.
40:10We have to stop this thing.
40:11Thank you very much.
40:17Fair treatment for food couriers requires new laws.
40:22That's where Germany's Labor Ministry could step in.
40:26Delivery services have recently been classified a high-risk sector
40:29for illegal employment, making the industry subject
40:32to stricter oversight.
40:34Lawmakers are beginning to question the tech
40:36corporations' business model.
40:39It's not acceptable to say, "I'm just providing a digital platform,"
40:42and take zero responsibility for the workers, while making
40:46huge profits at the expense of those who are being exploited.
40:50That's why there's a directive at the EU level,
40:52which we also want to make into a national law.
40:57It should happen by the end of 2026.
40:59But the directive doesn't say anything about subcontractors.
41:05And for the couriers who've been affected, banning subcontractors
41:08from the industry is crucial.
41:14If you hire people directly, of course
41:16you have an obligation as an employer.
41:19You have to comply with all national laws.
41:21That's why we're looking into it.
41:23I'm definitely in favor of having legislation to sort this out.
41:27But I should also say that it's not easy.
41:34While Sharma and her husband await the birth of their child, her family
41:38in India follow her life from afar.
42:21These are the young Indians who keep Germany's
42:23food delivery business running.
42:27They came to the country for an education and a better life.
42:31But debt has driven them to work as couriers.
42:44When I was delivering, I went
42:47past this big arena.
42:49I thought, wow, they really sucked the life
42:52out of us and they build this entire arena?
42:56And everyone is like, "Oh, it's like a big company, they're doing
43:00something really, really good with their employees because,
43:03you know, the employees are working so hard and they build this company.