Unions Representing Millions World-Wide File Complaint Against T-Mobile USA
Behavior of T-Mobile Supervisors Suggests Company-Wide Effort to Thwart Organizing Attempts
The two largest labor organizations in the world today stood together to denounce T-Mobile USA's practice of forcing managers to threaten and intimidate employees in America seeking the opportunity to vote on joining the Communications Workers of America.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), UNI Global Union, the German based ver.di union and CWA together filed a complaint in Germany — home of T-Mobile's parent corporation Deutsche Telekom — charging T-Mobile USA with systematically harassing employees in two states under the guidance of highly-paid anti-union lawyers.
T-Mobile technicians based in Connecticut, Long Island and Upstate New York seeking to vote on unionization have had their jobs and benefits threatened, been verbally assaulted by managers and further have been forced to sit through anti-union lectures on company time. Managers have also tried to force highly-paid T-Mobile engineers into proposed bargaining units in an attempt to dilute the vote of lower paid workers.
"Today we are calling out the double standard between the way T-Mobile USA workers are treated here in America as compared to their Deutsche Telekom counterparts in Germany," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "We're disappointed that T-Mobile is not living up to Deutsche Telekom's high standards, and we will continue to stand with T-Mobile USA workers who are organizing for real bargaining rights."
According to the complaint, managers have also told workers they themselves could be fired if there is a positive vote for union representation, as well as telling them anyone not wanting to be in a union would be fired if there were a positive vote for representation. One manager is quoted in the complaint as telling workers, "If the union gets in, I will have to fire anyone who does not want to work in a union. I will have to walk them out the door the same day the union gets in here." U.S. law clearly states union representation is the choice of the individual worker.
A copy of the complaint can be found at: www.weworkbettertogether.org/oecd
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