'Brutal Psychological Terror' Taking On Employee Intimidation at T-Mobile USA

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/union-campaign-takes-on-t-mobile-usa-working-conditions-a-868525.html


The company, which is on the verge of crisis, has apparently intensified performance requirements and working conditions for it's over 30,000 employees in the US.

The conference hotel, located in an area known as Cargo City Süd at the edge of the Frankfurt Airport, was chosen deliberately for the anonymity its meeting rooms offered, allowing the two powerful union representatives who met there to retreat discreetly if necessary. One man, Lothar Schröder, is deputy chair of the supervisory board at Deutsche Telekom AG and national chair of powerful German trade union Ver.di. The other, Larry Cohen, heads the 700,000-member union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

Over the course of two days, these two union representatives worked out a unique new campaign. In the coming weeks, they plan to mobilize employees on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as bringing the United States Congress, German parliament and various ministries into position and providing the media with sensitive information. The target: German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, headquartered in Bonn. The issue: alleged harassment and poor working conditions at the company's subsidiary T-Mobile USA.
For years, union representatives have accused the company of preventing the election of workers' representatives and suppressing any form of employee codetermination. The American subsidiary's management doesn't shrink from "dismissals, defamation and intimidating employees," the unions say.

Until now, Telekom was able to dismiss such accusations as "unfortunate isolated incidents" and "slip-ups" on the part of overzealous supervisors. That tactic, though, will be considerably more difficult in light of the documentation the union representatives have gathered.