T-Mobile Workers Blog: Trying to meet VP Brueckman - Mission Impossible? Part 2

Yesterday our new contributor to our T-Mobile workers blog, Linda M. started to tell us about the events at the Allentown call center on Tuesday, Aug 10, when CWA VP Mooney and a group of people tried to meet with T-Mobile VP Brueckman.

Let's get back to the events at the Allentown call center on August 10, 2010. I also had the opportunity that day to speak with several local CWA members who came out in support of T-Mobile workers and handed out flyers and held up signs promoting the union.

Pam and I have spoken several times about what the union can do for T-Mobile workers and it was wonderful to hear the same affirmations from the others about the benefits of organizing. Everyone was so passionate about what they were doing! It made me glad that these people were willing to take time out of their busy days to show support for the workers still stuck inside T-Mobile, living in the constant state of fear.

Union activists with VP Mooney, City Council President D'Amore and County Controller Barron at Allentown Call Center.

Fear truly is the backbone of T-Mobile at the Allentown center.

Fear of losing your job if security catches you associating with the union reps and taking a flyer. As one worker said on Tuesday, “I’m gonna wind up getting fired for this, but I’m going to take these papers.” Fear of being fired over performance issues when standards are constantly shifting and vary from coach to coach, while their peers in Germany are secure in the fact that their management is going to be supportive and help them achieve their goals instead of shoving the threat of corrective action down their throats.  

I think the highlight of the day came when Steve Barron addressed the camera before he left.

This is the best part:

“This is a message to Brian. Brian, this is your Decision Time… I’d like you to go home tonight and I would like you to think about ways you could treat your employees better and how working with CWA might improve the morale here in the call center… I’d also like you to think about why you didn’t meet with one of the local elected officials here in the Lehigh Valley and how that could benefit your company. And when you do that, I’d like you to give me a call. My number is… and I can discuss it with you so hopefully we can work and get your employees morale up a little bit and help you work together.”

It was so hard to stop from chuckling in delight as he directed T-Mobile’s corrective action policy at one of its VP’s!  Those of you who are familiar with T-Mobile will recognize Decision Time as the last step in its corrective action policy where you are sent home like a recalcitrant child on paid suspension to think about the actions that brought you to that point and return to work the following day with a written plan of how you are going to do better.

Whenever I think about this policy, it always brings to mind the image of a child standing at a chalkboard writing a sentence 100 times. 

“I will not tell lies that organizing through the Union is good.”

“I will not tell lies that organizing through the Union is good.”

“I will not tell lies that organizing through the Union is good.”

Oh wait… They aren’t lies!!

Our time there ended around 5:30 after the meeting ended and a majority of the workers had left. It was very discouraging to see that despite T-Mobile’s protestations that they aren’t anti-union, they still had a security guard at each driveway waving cars through, a visible reminder that the workers were being watched…

More pictures and pictures coming soon!