News

Thank you for signing the petition to stop anti-union bullying at T-Mobile USA. You have likely received a response from Deutsche Telekom that disputes the issues in their anti-union campaign.



T-Mobile USA’s anti-union behaviour has been well documented by academics as well as by US, German and international trade unions.



For example, on 26 August, four T-Mobile workers in New York who tried to form a union and hold a fair election at their workplace wrote to US Congressman Paul Tonko explaining why they had withdrawn their petition at the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) for an election:



“Unfortunately, T-Mobile USA has spent the past month creating an environment where a free and fair election is simply not possible. Since an election without fear is no longer viable, we are withdrawing our petition at the NLRB at this time,” the workers wrote.



You can find reports of T-Mobile USA management’s attacks on its own workers in the following reports:



“A Strange Case: Violations of Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations” (by Lance Compa, published by Human Rights Watch, 2010)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2010/09/02/strange-case-0



“Lowering the Bar or Setting the Standard: Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. Labor Practices” (by John Logan, published by American Rights at Work, 2009)

http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/publications/general/lowering-the-bar-or-setting-the-standard-20091209-853-116.html



Complaint under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2011): http://www.weexpectbetter.org/oecd-complaint-oecd-beschwerde.html



T-Mobile has defended its anti-union messaging to employees as an exercise in “free speech.” But rather than let managers and supervisors engage in free speech, top management is telling them to deliver a consistent message to employees that is hostile to unions in all aspects.



The right to "free speech" guarantees that individual speech, within limits, is protected from interference by government. It does not protect all speech from any consequence, as every employer knows.



International standards allow workers to organise free from employer interference and T-Mobile’s “speech” is interference in any language.



If you have not already done so, please sign our petition: http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1093