Global Bargaining Rights Study: CWA and Ver.di Lay Groundwork for Alliance

One of the most significant developments to come out of the international labor movement in years took shape in December when CWA and Ver.di, Germany's largest union, laid the groundwork for a new, jointly run membership organization — "T Union" — to fight for T-Mobile workers' organizing and bargaining rights in the United States and in other countries.

The unique partnership between CWA and Ver.di was announced at a global union conference in Washington, D.C., attended by 200 union leaders from CWA and 63 countries. The purpose of the meeting, unprecedented in its scope, was to develop a cooperative framework for fighting corporations' worldwide attack against workers and unions.

Ver.di has unique strengths that will give CWA added muscle in helping T-Mobile workers organize in the U.S. The two-million member union represents workers at Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, and holds seats on the corporation's supervisory board. Ver.di represents T-Mobile workers in Germany. Workers in the United Kingdom and nine other European countries also have collective bargaining rights.  T-Mobile is the third largest wireless company in the U.S. following AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless.

T-Mobile's U.S. management has bitterly resisted organizing efforts by its workers and has exhibited none of the respect that its German parent company has for workers' organizing rights.

In fact, in 2004, T-Mobile refused to retain 100 experienced network techs when the company purchased Cingular's network in California because the workers had been represented by CWA. Instead, the company kept on managers and contracted out the techs' jobs. Roughly 15,000 of the company's U.S.-based workforce is eligible for union membership.

In the U.S., employee turnover at T-Mobile is high due to low morale, poor treatment, low pay and few opportunities for advancement.

"Management doesn't value our experience," said a T-Mobile customer service rep from Allentown, Pa., who wished to remain anonymous. "I've been here four years but was not given the chance to bid for a position that would have meant a promotion. The opening was filled by the time I found out about it because it wasn't posted internally," the worker said.

Membership in T-Union would be open to T-Mobile workers in the United States. "The union will give them a place where they can safety share information and workplace concerns with their Ver.di-represented counterparts in Europe," said Executive Vice President Jeff Rechenbach, who heads CWA's Telecom Office.

CWA and Ver.di are developing a special website where workers can network and exchange information. "It will be extremely valuable for T-Mobile workers in the U.S. to be able to communicate directly with union-represented workers overseas," said District 13 Organizing Coordinator Pam Tronsor. "They are hungry for as much information as they can get about what union representation can mean," she said.

A former T-Mobile service rep from Allentown, Angie Joseph, now a service rep at Verizon, is working with CWA to help organize her former co-workers. "Through my contacts with CWA, I was able to get a job at Verizon that pays good wages and benefits thanks to my union contract. I'm telling them how a union really matters," she said. "An alliance between T-Mobile workers overseas and the U.S. will help workers at T-Mobile realize the benefits of a union."

CWA-represented members like Joseph at Verizon and AT&T Mobility will be adding their union message and experiences on the new T-Union website.

Over the last decade, CWA and Ver.di have developed strong ties working together to further telecom workers' rights worldwide. The unions have also joined together to fight the outsourcing of telecom work to lower-paying countries, an issue which is of concern to workers not just in the U.S. but also in Germany.