14 House Democrats Call for Investigation of T-Mobile's Labor Practices

Fourteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives are urging the German parliament to launch an investigation into the egregious, anti-worker practices of T-Mobile US.

Led by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), the Democrats threw their weight behind a petition asking the German government to use its shareholder power to pressure T-Mobile's German parent company Deutsche Telekom into enforcing international labor standards at its locations abroad. Nearly 52,000 people from Germany and the United States have endorsed this call to action.

"T-Mobile clearly has significant labor relations problems," members of Congress wrote to their German counterparts on Dec. 18. "In the United States, when people think of large, non-union companies with poor labor records, Walmart immediately comes to mind. Yet, when controlling for the size of their respective workforces, T-Mobile's rate of unfair labor practice charges since 2009 is nearly seven times that of Walmart's. The scope and frequency of the charges have repeatedly garnered the attention of the United States Congress. We believe they warrant the German government's attention as well."

The letter outlines T-Mobile's systematic campaign to block workers from exercising their right to organize and bargain collectively – and the subsequent National Labor Relations Board rulings that the company had violated U.S. labor law. That includes unlawfully prohibiting workers from discussing their pay with each other and silencing an employee who had filed a sexual harassment complaint against her supervisor.

"An overarching reason that Members of the U.S. Congress are concerned about T-Mobile is that the company appears to be operating in the U.S. in a way that treats U.S. workers as exploitable, while respecting workers' rights in other countries like Germany," they conclude. "The double standard is disturbing and unacceptable."

Read the full letter here.