Report Skewers Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile for Rights Violations

In a report released today, Human Rights Watch issued a scathing indictment of Deutsche Telekom’s union intolerance practices in the United States.

The human rights watchdog report cites numerous instances of interference with the freedom of association by its wholly-owned subsidiary T-Mobile USA:

• Captive audience meetings
• Managerial threats
• Interference with handbilling
• Filming workers who accept flyers
• Interviewing techniques to weed out potential union sympathizers
• Managers asking workers to spy on other workers
• Advertisements for HR managers with “union avoidance” skills

The report notes that Deutsche Telekom touts its adherence to corporate responsibility, including international labor standards. The Real T-Mobile suggests the juxtaposition of what Deutsche Telekom advertises in its corporate branding and what T-Mobile delivers in its behavior in the U.S. shows a blatant hypocrisy.

Many of these labor rights violations took place at the Allentown, Pennsylvania, call center, the same worksite where CWA activists and local political figures recently tried to meet with management (click here  and here).

The Deutsche Telekom / T-Mobile case was one of ten companies cited by Human Rights Watch for their double standards - respecting labor rights in Europe whle taking advantage of weak labor law in the U.S.

The Report, entitled “A Strange Case: Violations of Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations,” is available here.  Click here for the Human Rights Watch press release. 

Click here for coverage in the Financial Times.

Click here for the story in the AFL-CIO blog.

Click here for coverage by Voice of America. The article also includes a 2-minutes audio.

Photo:  Human Rights Watch