WASHINGTON-U.S. and global unions accused T-Mobile USA Inc. of embracing an anti-union policy here that would not be permitted in Germany, where the wireless company’s parent company is based.
The Communications Workers of America and the Geneva-based Union Network International are protesting T-Mobile’s alleged decision to fire 100 unionized technicians while keeping management employees on its payroll as it buys Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s cellular network in California. The 100 workers, according to CWA, are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between Cingular and the union. Cingular had to sell the California system to gain regulatory approval of its $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
In a letter to Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Officer Kai Uwe Ricke, CWA said UNI General Secretary Phillip Jennings said DT embraces a labor-friendly policy at home, but “has decided to be an anti-union employer when it thinks it can get away with it in another country.”
Organized labor’s allegations come amid several positive developments for Bellevue, Wash.- based T-Mobile, including a strong third quarter in which nearly 1 million subscribers were added and recent recognition by J.D. Power and Associates for achieving top ranking in overall retail sales customer satisfaction among the nation’s major wireless operators.
T-Mobile had a terse response.
“T-Mobile has not seen the complaint that has been filed,” the carrier stated. “We do not comment on pending litigation. T-Mobile purchased only the assets of Cingular’s GSM networks in California and Nevada. This is not a merger situation. The CWA should address its concerns about the Cingular employees to Cingular. T-Mobile has nothing to do with any decision Cingular may make regarding Cingular employees.”
CWA said it filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board Nov. 9, charging that T-Mobile is illegally discriminating against union workers by choosing to retain Cingular’s non-union workforce but requiring the technicians to reapply for their own jobs through an agency. Even if hired, said CWA, the fired technicians would be employees of the agency and lose their contractual rights and benefits.
“Company executives have even acknowledged that they couldn’t get away with this kind of behavior back in Germany,”said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, who also heads UNI’s World Telecom Committee.
CWA said it supported DT’s purchase of then-VoiceStream Wireless Corp. in 2001-which was controversial because the German phone company is largely owned by the government and therefore needed special approval by federal regulators-in part because DT is a “good employer and good corporate citizen.”
