WASHINGTON-Deutsche Telecom and T-Mobile officials in Germany assert the 100 unionized technicians fired by subsidiary T-Mobile USA Inc. are not protected because the action was an asset deal in which technical infrastructure was acquired by the Bellevue, Wash.-based mobile-phone carrier.
In a Nov. 12 letter to Geneva-based Union Network International General Secretary Philip Jennings, DT and T-Mobile executives dispute allegations made by Jennings in his Nov. 9 letter of protest to DT chief executive Kai-Uwe Ricke.
“Contrary to what you state in your letter … there has been neither a takeover of some of the operations of Cingular Wireless nor a merger of Cingular and T-Mobile. This was never the intention nor was it the subject of any contractual agreement,” said Dr. Heiner Klinkhammer, director of human resources at Deutsche Telekom, and Lothar Harings, director of human resources at T-Mobile in Germany. “Furthermore, under U.S. law there is no article similar to [law] 613 of the German Civil Code, which imposes certain responsibilities when technical equipment is taken over.”
Klinghammer and Harings said they want to meet with U.S. labor representatives to try to resolve the controversy.
Jeff Miller, a spokesman for U.S.-based Communications Workers of America, said the DT response was unsatisfactory.
The 100 layoffs are indirectly tied to government approval of Cingular L.L.C.’S $41 billion purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. As a consequence of the merger, a joint infrastructure-spectrum joint venture in California between Cingular and T-Mobile was dissolved. T-Mobile subsequently purchased the California network that it previously shared with Cingular.
UNI and CWA have accused T-Mobile USA Inc. of embracing an anti-union policy here that would not be permitted in Germany, where DT is headquartered
The two unions in America sharply criticized T-Mobile’s alleged decision to fire 100 unionized technicians while allegedly keeping management employees on its payroll as it buys Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s cellular network in California.
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.
T-Mobile USA initial previously said it had not seen the complaint and does not comment on pending litigation.
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.”
On a related front, some 5,000 unionized Cingular Wireless workers met here last month to prepare to strategize for a new national agreement covering retail sales workers, technicians and customer service agents. The current contract expires Feb. 5. Labor-management negotiations on new contracts will begin the middle of this month.
