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On October 14, 2013, Deutsche Telekom re-issued its Social Charter  - its group-wide statement of human rights principles. The current document commits the company to abide by ten principles that include respect for ILO principles of freedom of association and collective bargaining; prohibitions on forced and child labor; rejection of workplace discrimination; and the observance of the right to reasonable remuneration.

Despite the lofty rhetoric, however, Deutsche Telekom rejects engagement with U.S. unions to bring its actual performance at T-Mobile US to meet the standard it projects. Instead, it continues to let its U.S. subsidiary campaign against workers who choose to organize.

As chronicled on the UNI website and elsewhere, there have been hundreds of examples of union intolerance, inconsistent with professed respect for freedom of association. T-Mobile US has fired employees for their union activity. The national labor relations regulator, the National Labor Relation Board, has cited the company repeatedly for its surveillance of interactions between employees and union organizers. T-Mobile US shows a PowerPoint presentation to all trainees that contains anti-union propaganda.

Whenever workers are brave enough to petition the NLRB for a representation election, TMUS immediately holds mandatory meetings inform workers the company opposes the union, even flying in corporate vice presidents to deliver the message.  Before the September 25 election at a retail store in New York, TMUS held 30 such meetings for a store with 9 employees despite a request from employees to stop such meetings.

Deutsche Telekom defends interference with workers’ organizing rights by arguing that “free speech” rights allow the company to communicate with employees and aggressively campaign against the union.  It is not free speech to harangue employees about union representation after they have requested the company stop.

In June, Josh Coleman – a TMUS worker fired for expressing his support for the union appeared before the ILO workers delegation to tell his story about how corporate animus to the union trumped his free speech and freedom of association rights. He later participated in a UNI-sponsored panel that discussed the balance between freedom of speech and freedom of association.

Fired T-Mobile worker Josh Coleman with CWA President Larry Cohen at the AFL-CIO Convention in September 2013

DT rejected the opportunity to resolve the dispute in the United States after UNI, CWA, and ver.di filed a complaint under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The U.S. National Contact Point found a basis for mediation in its Initial Assessment. Unfortunately, Deutsche Telekom then decided to withdraw from participation in the process. The message was clear to the world: Deutsche Telekom does not want a mediated third-party dialogue. Click here for a copy of the Final Determination.

UNI calls on Deutsche Telekom to apply the letter and spirit of new Social Charter to its 38,000 wireless workers in the United States.   We expect better of DT than to mock the Social Charter and UN principles.  

Take Action! Sign the global petition demanding that Deutsche Telekom respect freedom of association in the United States.