Federal appeals court affirms NLRB finding that T-Mobile created an illegal workplace organization

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied T-Mobile’s request to review a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that found that T-Mobile had created an illegal workplace organization. As a result, T-Mobile must follow the NLRB’s order to disband the organization and post a notice informing employees of their right to join a union. The company-controlled organization, called T-Voice, was established in 2015 during worker efforts to form a union at the wireless company.

With this ruling, the Court has recognized that when members of employer-established workplace organizations like T-Voice make suggestions about working conditions as part of their participation in the group, those organizations are, in fact, labor organizations. Such “company unions” are illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. Rather than allowing workers to freely and fairly choose whether or not to join a union, T-Mobile established T-Voice to undermine worker organizing at the company.

The establishment of T-Voice is just one in a string of labor law violations at the company, which merged with Sprint in 2020. Throughout the merger process, CWA raised concerns about the impact of the merger on workers and consumers, particularly the effect of store closures on jobs and wages. T-Mobile’s anti-union actions made it impossible for workers to win the protections offered by collective bargaining agreements.

Links:

US Court of Appeals rejects T-Mobile’s baseless attempt to reverse NLRB ruling on illegal workplace organization (CWA, Jan. 12, 2024)

NLRB orders T-Mobile to disband illegal workplace organization (Speed Matters, Dec. 4, 2022)

T-Mobile cuts over 5,000 jobs after Sprint takeover (Speed Matters, Mar. 8, 2022)