T-Mobile US Law Breaking to Become Focus of German Government Investigation

CWA President Larry Cohen and leaders of ver.di, the union representing workers at T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, talked with German media about the unprecedented legal decision that found T-Mobile US guilty of nationwide labor law violations.

Meeting in Berlin, Cohen and ver.di leader Lothar Schröder met with Manager Magazine, Handelsblatt, a business publication; and Reuters. Deutsche Telekom no longer can wash its hands of T-Mobile US's conduct, they said, noting that Deutsche Telekom had long insisted that the company did abide by American laws.

Read some of the German media coverage here.

This week, ver.di Chairman Frank Bsirske is submitting a petition to the German Bundestag, or parliament, for organizing neutrality and the respect of workers' rights at Deutsche Telekom sites abroad. It will ask the German government to exercise its shareholder powers and investigate Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile. The German government owns about 32 percent of Deutsche Telekom.

National Labor Relations Board judge Christine Dibble ruled in March that T-Mobile US engaged in nationwide labor law violations that were directed from the very top of the company in Bellevue, Wash.

Cohen also addressed the congress of ver.di, and he recognized and thanked ver.di activists and leaders for their solidarity in the effort to help T-Mobile US workers gain union representation. He celebrated the 11 worksite-to-worksite CWA/ver.di partnerships as examples of effective global solidarity.