Report Reveals Abuses by T-Mobile USA

A report issued this week by the American Rights at Work Education Fund exposes the systematic campaign by T-Mobile USA and parent company Deutsche Telekom to prevent T-Mobile employees in the United States from forming a union.

The report, "Lowering the Bar or Setting the Standard? Deutsche Telekom's U.S. Labor Practices," slams DT for its double standard: refusing to respect workers' rights in the United States as it does in Germany, where it cooperates and works closely with union workers at DT and T-Mobile.

In the U.S., the report points out how T-Mobile threatens workers who want a union. It also spotlights the aggressive anti-union training managers receive and the steps
T-Mobile takes to limit and interfere in workers' ability to organize.

"It's time to hold Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile USA accountable," said CWA President Larry Cohen, who noted that CWA supported Deutsche Telekom's application to bring T-Mobile into the U.S. based on the company's strong record of respecting workers' rights. "Since then, we have seen no respect for workers' rights, just eight years of intolerance and hostility toward workers and complete disregard of their rights to organize and bargain collectively," Cohen said.

CWA and ver.di, the union for telecom workers at Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile in Germany, have created TU, a joint union that will win fair treatment and collective bargaining for U.S.-based T-Mobile workers. "Management must get used to the idea that we are representing the interests not only of German workers but of American workers as well," said Lothar Schröder, a ver.di leader.

Executives at T-Mobile USA and DT have gotten the message loud and clear. Last month, T-Mobile and DT workers from Germany joined their counterparts in the U.S. to tell U.S. government officials of T-Mobile USA's assault on workers' rights.

Click here to download the report.

Click here to sign a petition to DT CEO René Obermann and tell him to respect the rights of all his workers.