German workers appalled by T-Mobile's practices here

Don't tell us you don't know the German union Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft? Too hard? Call it ver.di instead, the large service union that represents Deutsche Telekom (DT) workers. And recently ver.di workers have been touring the U.S. and visiting with their counterparts here, call center employees who work for T-Mobile - owned by D.T. They traveled to Washington, D.C., Nashville, Tenn., and Frisco, Texas and had an eye-opening education in U.S. labor practices.

What they found is that D.T. practices a double standard, treating its German employees well while subjecting its American ones to an abusive work rules and an anti-union campaign. The Germans were astonished by this treatment. Klaus Barthel is a Social Democratic Party member of Germany's Parliament who traveled with the trade unionists. He was appalled that, "workers must talk about the benefits of a union in secret, it is unbelievable that a German company is permitting this treatment." Elected Ver.di members - who number 125,000 telecom workers - sit on the DT board, and ver.di leader Lothar Schroeder is vice chairman of the company.

To many American workers poor treatment seems just normal. One American told the ver.di members that 10 of his colleagues were fired and replaced by newer workers who were paid less. This just isn't done in Germany. One German, Conny, said, "It makes me really angry that employees are intimidated and harassed when they want to join a union... I think our colleagues are quite brave and have a lot of courage as they fight for their rights despite their own personal risks."

In order to experience first-hand accounts of the ver.di visit through writing and video, see T-Mobile workers discussing the company and the campaign, at www.weworkbettertogether.org.

German Delegation Ends T-Mobile Tour Stunned by U.S. Anti-Unionism (AFL-CIO blog, Feb. 27, 2012)

ver.di, T-Mobile USA workers document campaign of fear (CWA news release, Feb. 24, 2012)

T-Mobile workers in Nashville expect better (website) 

We Work Better Together (website) 

Workers' Rights should apply worldwide - Especially at T-Mobile USA! (News statement, German SDP member, Klaus Barthel, Feb. 2012)

http://files.cwa-union.org/tmobile/ENG-T-Mobile-Barthel.PDF