T-Mobile Update

Following up on CWA President Shelton's meetings with members of the German Parliament and other leaders on T-Mobile workers and their fight for workers' rights, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Reiner Hoffman, Chairman of the German union federation, raised the issue in a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Trumka was in Germany to attend the meeting of global labor leaders and officials from the G20 nations. Trumka and Hoffman handed the letter to Merkel during the meeting, and asked for her help to ensure that human and workers' rights are respected at T-Mobile US.

"Deutsche Telekom has not taken the actions necessary to stop T-Mobile's continuing workers' rights violations. The German government's large ownership stake in Deutsche Telekom makes the government complicit in the labor violations of Deutsche Telekom's controlled U.S. subsidiary. These violations and the unwillingness of Deutsche Telekom to end them are clearly contrary to the principled positions you have declared in previous G20 meetings," they wrote.

"Germany needs to assume a leadership role in lifting global labor standards, including the Freedom of Association. In our view, this includes that German companies abroad, as well as their subsidiary and associated companies, adhere to the social dialogue practiced in Germany beyond national borders."

Last month, Shelton met with Hoffman, leaders from CWA's partner union ver.di, and members of the German Parliament on the fight for workers' rights by T-Mobile US workers.