T-Mobile US touted the expansion of a call center, while the CWA asks for action
T-Mobile US continues to court controversy with its labor practices as the mobile operator announced the expansion of a call center in Alabama while at the same time the Communications Workers of America has asked T-Mobile US parent company Deutsche Telekom to “protect” worker rights at those locations.
T-Mobile US said the expanded call center in Birmingham, Ala., includes plans to hire more employees to staff the center. The carrier said it hired 250 employees last year, with nearly 100 new employees hired so far this year.
Connected with the expansion, T-Mobile US also cited a recent award from the Birmingham Business Journal, which named the carrier as one of the best places to work in the area.
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The facility is not part of a list of T-Mobile US and DT call centers and retail locations that have combined their voices in asking management to remain neutral on the ability for U.S. employees to form worker unions.
CWA reported that T-Mobile US has so far not followed a recent National Labor Relations Board decision requiring the carrier to drop “illegal” policies that might “chill” an employee exercising the right to join a workers union.
“To date, the company has not followed the judge’s orders, nor has it appealed nine of the 11 guilty findings,” CWA noted in a statement.
The NLRB was looking into claims that T-Mobile US’ employee handbook contained conditions that limited employees from discussions of topics in the book with people not employed by the carrier. That wording states:
“This Employee Handbook is for the sole use by employees of T-Mobile and its U.S. based affiliates and subsidiaries. This Handbook is a confidential and proprietary Company document, and must not be disclosed to or used by any third party without the prior written consent of the Company.”
NLRB Judge Christine Dibble said she did not find that the actual wording violated Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which allows for employees to discuss employee-related information or form a union, but did note the wording was broad enough that it might “chill” an employee’s exercising of their rights.
T-Mobile US downplayed the ruling, noting it was just a technical issue in the wording of its policies.
“This is simply a ruling about a technical issue in the law that relates to policies that are common to companies across the country,” T-Mobile US said in a statement. “There are no allegations that any employee has been impacted by these policies.”
CWA has a history of questioning T-Mobile US’ business practices in terms of an impact on its employees. CWA was against T-Mobile US’ acquisition of MetroPCS, claiming it could cost 10,000 jobs, and asked the U.S. Department of Labor to grant trade adjustment assistance benefits to T-Mobile US customer service agents who lost their jobs.
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