Workers Say T-Mobile Makes Mockery of Corporate Responsibility
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Workers at T-Mobile USA say the company is making a mockery of its parent’s claims of corporate responsibility. Earlier this week, Deutsche Telekom (DT), the giant German telecom company that owns T-Mobile, patted itself on the back for its “leadership” on environmental matters. But workers point out that corporate social responsibility extends beyond going green, it includes treating workers fairly. And on that score, DT and T-Mobile fail miserably. Workers say DT should “be green. not mean.”
Last month, T-Mobile workers visited Germany and joined with their colleagues at ver.di, the German telecommunications workers union, to tell DT shareholders about the company’s double standard to deny its U.S. employees the freedom to join a union.
T-Mobile Workers Take Fight for Union to Shareholders
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T-Mobile USA employees and Communications Workers of America (CWA) Vice President Ed Mooney traveled to Cologne, Germany, last week and joined with their colleagues at ver.di, the German telecommunications workers union, to tell shareholders about the company’s double standard to deny its U.S. employees the freedom to join a union.
In many countries around the world, T-Mobile’s parent, Deutsche Telekom (DT), follows internationally recognized labor and human rights, including the freedom of association and the freedom to join a union. But not in the United States. Here, the German company allows management to harass and intimidate workers who want to join a union.
Some 50 ver.di members leafleted the entrances to DT’s annual shareholders meeting in Cologne with a flier that described T-Mobile’s “Wild West” tactics.
Global Unions Call on T-Mobile to Respect Workers’ Rights
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In many countries around the world, T-Mobile USA’s parent Deutsche Telekom (DT) follows internationally recognized labor and human rights, including the freedom of association and the freedom to join a union. But not in this country. Instead, the German company allows management to harass and intimidate workers who want to join a union.
In a joint press conference last week, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), ver.di, the German telecommunications workers union, and UNI Global Union, said this double standard must end now. UNI, CWA and ver.di are pressing DT for a global agreement that would protect the fundamental labor rights of the company’s workers worldwide.
CWA President Larry Cohen told reporters:
T-Mobile USA…chooses to ally with the worst of U.S. managers who fight collective bargaining for employees in every imaginable way. These companies use the loopholes in current U.S. labor law that support and permit anti-union campaigning by management.
What Book Do You Want Obama to Read?
| It’s time the economy worked for everyone again. That’s the message of this new TV ad in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. |
Over at Washington Monthly, the editors asked a few Famous Names to describe the book they think President Obama should read. But they did not ask the rest of us.
So I’d like to submit a suggestion. In fact, I’ll go easy on the new president and offer up a report rather than an entire book.
Consultants, Lawyers and the “Union Free” Movement in the USA since the 1970s, by British economist John Logan, analyzes the emergence of professional “union-busters,” providing case studies of each of the main groups comprising the industry: law firms, consultants, industry psychologists and strike management firms.
At 18 pages, it’s an easy read for a president who holds his books right-side-up. But the information is crucial for an understanding of why the nation needs passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Big Business lobbyists are all over the new administration and Congress trying to convince lawmakers that corporations are even-handed and open-minded—and therefore no change is needed to current labor laws because the laws are so fair now. NOT.
