Global Unions File Complaint Against T-Mobile’s Parent
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A complaint filed today with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) describes how Deutsche Telekom has engaged in anti-union activity in the United States that violates the organization’s guidelines for multinational enterprises.
The complaint, filed by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the German union ver.di and the global union federation UNI Global Union, details the union-busting activity of Deutsche Telekom’s wholly owned subsidiary T-Mobile USA, which “has engaged in a pattern of conduct designed to undermine and frustrate employees’ efforts to choose union representation freely and to deny employees their rights to collective bargaining.”
German Workers Rally For T-Mobile USA Employees’ Rights
More than 500 workers from ver.di, the German telecommunications workers union, today descended on Deutsche Telekom’s global annual shareholders’ meeting in Cologne to demand the company ensure its American employees at T-Mobile USA the same rights enjoyed by its German workforce.
The workers formed a human chain around the meeting venue and released black balloons as a sign of mourning for their U.S. co-workers’ rights.
In Germany, Deutsche Telecom recognizes the union and has a collective bargaining agreement with workers. But at its American subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, management harasses workers who try to join the union, and has implemented a company-wide strategy of refusing to recognize the workers’ choice of a union and collective bargaining rights.
Report: T-Mobile Mistreats U.S. Employees
T-Mobile USA and its parent company, German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom (DT), have waged a systematic campaign to prevent employees from forming a union, according to a new report.
“Lowering the Bar or Setting the Standard? Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. Labor Practices,” released today by the American Rights at Work Education Fund, shows that although DT respects workers’ rights and cooperates closely with unions in Germany, it routinely mistreats workers in the United States and tries to thwart their freedom to form unions.
Says Kimberly Freeman Brown, executive director of American Rights at Work:
Respecting workers’ rights and needs benefits employees, their families, and a company’s bottom line. T-Mobile’s parent company became a leader in the telecom industry in Europe by working with their employees and proving that there is a better way to do business. It is inexcusable that our dysfunctional labor law system allowed T-Mobile USA to disregard its employees’ rights here in the United States.
Global Postal Unions Fighting Spread of HIV
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In many countries, post offices are a central part of the community and often promote public health messages. Now, the postal unions worldwide have launched a campaign based in post offices to get out the word on preventing the spread of HIV.
UNI Global Unions (UNI), which represents workers in 900 unions worldwide, has joined with the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and UNAIDS to launch a global-awareness campaign on HIV in post offices around the world. Through a series of posters and handouts, post offices in participating countries will provide visitors and employees with important information about preventing HIV.
