News

In a letter sent last week, UNI and the ITUC call upon KfW Bankengruppe, the German Development bank which represents 30% of the government shares in Deutsche Telekom to immediately intervene in stopping the Duetsche Telekom`s union busting activity.



UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings, who signed the letter along with ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, recorded a video message for Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann and German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on them to intervene in the United States and stop T-Mobile USA management’s anti-union behaviour.



“I was astonished and appalled to discover that T-Mobile in the United States of America has employed a notorious union buster by the name of Peter Conrad who sat in a court for five days to contest the rights of T-Mobile workers to join a union,” Jennings said in his video message. “On his web page in his biography he proudly proclaims and boasts about his union avoidance experience and is very happy to report that T-Mobile is a number one client.”

KfW is a global leader in sustainable investment policies and is one of the few German signatories of the UN Principles on Responsible investment, which reflect the view that environmental, social and corporate governance issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios and therefore must be given appropriate consideration by investors.



In the letter, Jennings and Burrow ask the KfW to intervene to solve the “brewing labour dispute and potential harm to Deutsche Telekom’s reputation.”



Letter to KfW