TU Gets the Attention of Management in U.S. and Germany

CWA Pres. Larry Cohen talks about TU at National Press Club. Panel, from left: "X," a disguised U.S. T-Mobile worker; Prof. Adrienne Eaton, Rutgers; Ado Wilhelm, ver.di; and interpreter Hae-lin Choi.

U.S. and German workers at T-Mobile sent a message to management on both sides of the Atlantic this week. A group of nine workers, plus CWAers from AT&T Mobility, came to Washington to talk more about TU, the global union for German and U.S. workers at T-Mobile, and to meet with NLRB, Labor Department and other government officials about T-Mobile's assault on workers in the U.S who want a union.  

German workers were stunned at how American workers are treated by T-Mobile and the atmosphere of fear and repression that the U.S. workers live under, especially as they work to get a union voice. That message quickly got back to German parent Deutsche Telekom, Ado Wilhelm, a ver.di official and leader of the German worker group, reported.

The U.S. workers almost couldn't believe how T-Mobile in Germany respects workers' rights and supports the right of workers to form a union; that's not what happens in the United States.

At a media briefing at the National Press Club, CWA President Larry Cohen said the goal of TU was to overcome the double-standard of how T-Mobile and parent Deutsche Telekom treat workers in their home countries compared to how U.S. workers are treated. In TU, CWA works with U.S. members and telecom workers and ver.di, which represents workers at T-Mobile and DT, is responsible for overall relations with the company.

"X," a U.S. T-Mobile employee, told reporters how workers are forced to listen to anti-union messages at closed door meetings and intimidated about even taking union leaflets. "X" was fully disguised, because "people who support a union are just fired, gotten rid of. That's why I'm wearing a disguise. That's why I can't even let you hear my voice."

New research by John Logan of San Francisco State and the labor center at Berkeley documents T-Mobile's record of harassment and intimidation of workers who want a union. Since T-Mobile entered the U.S. market in 2001, it has created an atmosphere of fear and repression for workers. Logan outlined his research at a forum attended by the wireless workers, other academics and representatives of the Friedrich Ebert center, Georgetown University's program for labor and the working poor, and American Rights at Work.  

The group also attended a CWA organizing institute and the German workers joined AT&T Mobility workers and CWAers in leafleting a T-Mobile operation.