T-Mobile Workers United (TU) is an organization of T-Mobile USA and Metro by T-Mobile employees joining together for a voice and fair treatment at work. It represents currently 500 members and is affiliated with the

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

(CWA) and Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di), a large German service-sector union. TU is also supported by a coalition of community and labor groups around the world. In July, 2011, technicians in Connecticut, voted for representation by the Communications Workers of America-TU (CWA-TU). On September 25, 2013, MetroPCS workers in Harlem, NY, voted for a union voice and representation by CWA-TU.

History

T-Mobile US T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its majority shareholder and namesake is the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile is the second largest wireless carrie ...

is a subsidiary of

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

, the largest telecommunications company in Europe. Through its subsidiary companies, Deutsche Telekom has operations in around 50 countries worldwide. In Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, employees are represented by

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. When Deutsche Telekom purchased VoiceStream Wireless in 2001, the CWA helped the company gain approval for access to the U.S. market, with the expectation that Deutsche Telekom would be open to letting employees freely choose union representation in the United States. The relationship between CWA and T-Mobile US has since eroded. Since it entered the American market in 2001, T-Mobile US has been repeatedly criticized for its employment relations by CWA, ver.di, and other groups. Likewise, American Rights at Work and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

have issued studies of union intolerance at the company’s facilities. In April 2008, CWA and ver.di formed a joint organization for T-Mobile workers named TU. The new organization was "formed with the goal of overcoming the double standard of Deutsche Telekom recognizing labor rights in Germany but ignoring them in the U.S. This new global union is an effective answer to cross-border investment and the globalization of work." When CWA and ver.di created the joint organization, they originally named it “T-Union”. However, Deutsche Telekom threatened to sue the organizations for trademark infringement, since they had trademarked the concept of branding their services with a leading "T-" (as they did with the color magenta). So, CWA and ver.di had to rename the union TU for T-Mobile Workers Union. In August, 2013, TU launched a new website that allows workers at T-Mobile and MetroPCS to connect with each other to build strength in their drive for workplace justice and respect.

TU Affiliates

Ver.di (''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; �vɛʁdiː; English: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a m ...

Ver.di represents 2.3 million workers in Germany, including Deutsche Telekom employees. Ver.di was formed in 2001 when the German Salaried Employees' Union (DAG) merged with four unions of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). Ver.di members work in financial services, utilities, health, social services, education, science and research, federal government, media, printing, telecommunications, postal services, logistics, and transport, among other sectors. The headquarters of the trade union is in Berlin. The Communications Workers of America CWA represents 700,000 workers in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The union was established in 1947 and affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1949. CWA represents workers in telecommunications, publishing, the airline industry, public safety, healthcare, education, social work, and broadcasting, among many other industries. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

TU Workplace Partnerships

To bring together T-Mobile workers in Germany (

) and the United States (

), TU has created a workplace partnership program that connects German and American workplaces. These partnerships build solidarity and allow workers to join together to make positive change in the workplace and respond to bad behavior by management. So far, there are 6 partnerships between German and American call center representatives, retail associates and technicians.

References

External links

Official websites

*
Communications Workers of America

ver.di

Other Sources

LoweringTheBarForUs.org
– Website with news and information about the T-Mobile campaign. {{Multinational unions Telecommunications trade unions

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...