CWA Local 2201 is on board with the new billboard that went up this week in Richmond, Virginia. "We Expect Better" will be appearing across the country -- on billboards, mobile billboards, bus stop signs.

The goal of this advertising campaign is to put the question directly to the company: can this German company end the double standard? Will the company stop treating American workers as second class? T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom does not interfere with workers' rights in Germany. Why the opposite behavior in the U.S.? Will T-Mobile stop the employee intimidation over freedom of association? Will the company admit that the decision to form a union belongs to the workers themselves? Management opposition in just the last weeks has been evident. Recently at another site, supervisors demanded that employees hand over leaflets they received on the public thoroughfare. Also, at still another site, managers threw away TU cards that had been left on a table in the employees' lounge.

We expect better behavior than this. This is a company that has a social charter that promises to abide by International Labor Organization standards on freedom of association and collective bargaining. Active employer opposition in the workplace to organizing violates ILO standards. When will the company fire its outside counsel Peter Conrad, Proskauer Rose, who brags about his expertise in union avoidance? When will the company stop harrassing employees who express an interest in the union? What does the company fear?

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns recently organized a letter of concern to Deutsche Telekom from religious leaders and lay supporters from several faith-based organizations. The letter juxtaposed respect for "the right of workers to organize and form unions to act on their behalf," as stated in the Deutsche Telekom Social Charter with the reality of fear and union avoidance as exposed in the report published by Human Rights Watch in September 2010. Like others, this group has cited a key finding of Human Rights Watch: "T-Mobile USA's harsh opposition to workers' freedom of association in the United States betrays Deutsche Telekom’s purported commitment to social responsibility, impedes constructive dialogue with employee representatives, and in several cases, has violated ILO and OECD labor and human rights standards."

The letter was signed by 61 people of faith from all over the United States and ends by stating, "We hope that you will listen to customers and potential customers of your company by implementing a consistent, company-wide policy that provides genuine respect and protection for employees seeking to exercise the right to join a union."

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns represents the Maryknoll Sisters, Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers, Maryknoll Lay Missioners and the Maryknoll Affiliates.

CWA released the following statement on February 16:

Washington, D.C. -- When the Communications Workers of America and ver.di, the German union representing 2 million workers, including telecom workers at Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile, announced the formation of TU, it established a bold and innovative, global union that is working to end discrimination against workers at T-Mobile USA and other Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries. T-Mobile workers in both countries would belong to TU and together would have a powerful voice at the company.

Since then thousands of German T-Mobile workers have stood up in support of their U.S. colleagues and have called on DT to end its double standard of supporting workers’ rights in Europe but completely opposing them in the United States.

Now, the entire world has joined the campaign. The global union movement, the International Trade Union Confederation, has announced it is launching a major global campaign to convince Deutsche Telekom to end anti-union discrimination and allow T-Mobile USA workers the right to join a union if they choose.

Deutsche Telekom has repeatedly refused to stop the anti-union campaign being waged by T-Mobile USA. “We expect better from Deutsche Telekom,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.  “With operations in some 50 countries, it has established union relations with much of its workforce.  However, in the USA in particular, the company massively violates its responsibility to be neutral towards trade unions, and tries to keep unions out of its workplaces.  We’re simply asking Deutsche Telekom to respect fundamental rights for all those who work for it around the world, in line with international legal standards.”

Earlier this month, John C. Liu, Comptroller of the City of New York,  joined the bandwagon of Deutsche Telekom investors concerned about the company's labor practices in the United States. In a letter to Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann, Liu laid out the risk factors involved in the company's union avoidance policy in the United States, including risks of diminished employee productivity and a weakening of the company's reputation. As other investors have stated, the Comptroller was seeking to "assess and act upon issues that pose risks to the long-term value of our investments." The Comptroller directs $108 billion in pension fund assets.

Liu was spurred to write this letter after reading a September 2010 Human Rights Watch report that detailed T-Mobile anti-union practices. He cited explicit attempts to train T-Mobile managers to prevent employees from organizing unions.

Investors who have raised serious concerns over Deutsche Telekom's double standard for T-Mobile USA workers, include the New York State Comptroller, the Pennsylvania Treasurer, Marco Consulting, and several socially responsible investment advisors.

Congratulations to all the hard-working T-Mobile CSR's. J.D. Power and Associates came out with their rankings and put you on top! Let's hope the upcoming changes outlined by Philipp Humm - job cuts and greater automation - don't change your reputation.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif: 3 February 2011 — Customer service issues that are personally handled by a service representative, either over the phone or at a retail store, are significantly more satisfying to customers than are automated response interactions, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Performance StudySM—Volume 1 released today.

Now in its ninth year, the semiannual study provides a detailed report card on how well wireless carriers service their customers in three contact methods: telephone calls with customer service representatives (CSR) and/or automated response systems (ARS); visits to a retail wireless store; and on the Web. Within each contact method, the study measures satisfaction and processing issues, such as problem-resolution efficiency and hold-time duration.

Overall, among customers who speak with a service representative without going through an automated response system, the customer care index score averages 774 on a 1,000-point scale, well above the industry average score of 739. Among customers who use other methods of contact, satisfaction is considerably lower:

T-Mobile ranks highest in wireless customer care performance for a second consecutive time with an overall score of 758. T-Mobile performs particularly well in phone contacts that originate in the ARS channel and are then transferred to a live service representative, and through phone calls made directly to a CSR. Verizon Wireless follows in the overall rankings with a score of 743 and performs well among customers who contact their service representative directly and among customers who contact their carrier online.

Click here for the full press release from JD Powers.

Photo:  LGEPR