U.S. and German unions campaign for T-Mobile worker rights

Veteran labor writer Steve Early, a longtime CWA organizer and staff rep, has published a long, detailed and fascinating article at the progressive magazine and website, Social Policy on the cross-border union organizing campaign by T-Mobile USA employees.

In "Going Global at T-Mobile: German Union Members Seek Better Treatment for U.S. Wireless Workers" Early analyzes the history of U.S. labor and T-Mobile.

Initially, CWA and the AFL-CIO supported Deutsche Telekom's (DT) entry into the American market, lobbying Congress, the FCC and two administrations for permission to acquire T-Mobile, then called VoiceStream. Unions hoped that DT would bring German-style labor relations to its U.S. subsidiaries.

But, as Early notes, it didn't work out that way:

"Unfortunately, DT is a modern-day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - mild-mannered and well-behaved at home, but hostile and aggressive in its labor relations abroad. The protracted struggle to get a major German employer to adhere to the higher labor standards of Western Europe when operating in the low-road environment of the U.S. illustrates many of the challenges facing other cross-border union campaigns, targeting similar firms."

T-Mobile has proved to be as aggressive and obstinate as any U.S. owned anti-labor company. Early quotes San Francisco State University Professor John Logan who reported that local managers "have deliberately and systematically instilled fear in their workforce, engaging in repeated incidents of anti-union harassment and intimidation throughout the country."

Steve Early then describes the creation of the innovative international union called TU: "Over the last two years, about 1,000 employees have signed up to become members of TU, an unusual cross-border organization jointly sponsored by ver.di, the German union that represents DT workers in that country, and the Communications Workers of America (CWA). In Connecticut, TU has already won bargaining rights and a first contract for fifteen T-Mobile workers - out of 25,000 thought to be union eligible - after eleven years of international campaigning against the company's union busting."

CWA and ver.di have built deep worker-to-worker relationships. On CWA-sponsored tours, German unionists who work at DT call centers have visited their U.S. counterparts at T-Mobile locations where they have learned about the appalling conditions in DT's non-union U.S. call centers.

By themselves these efforts mark just a beginning. American unions have slowly come to realize that without community and international support, facing off with multinational corporations is somewhere between very difficult and impossible. But even working with other countries is no panacea. As he says:

"There aren't any short-cuts to successful cross-border campaigning. Building labor solidarity and unity requires patient personal networking and relationship building, information sharing, and escalating workplace activity among the diverse national unions or labor federations that may represent some portion of a reconfigured employer's worldwide workforce."

Read the whole story here.

Going Global at T-Mobile: German Union Members Seek Better Treatment for U.S. Wireless Workers (Social Policy, undated)