Change T-Mobile Workers Can Belive In?

Change is good... except when it is arbitrary, capricious, and painful. John, a technical support rep, writes about trying to meet the so-called "right-fitting" policies imposed by management on employees at T-Mobile USA. Eventually discontinued, the plan ended up confusing employees and angering customers.

We note that this campaign for respect at T-Mobile has been picked up by the Wichita Eagle. The company has a major call center in that city.

I encourage you to continue visiting us at www.LoweringTheBarForUs.org and to like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LoweringTheBar. Also, follow us on Twitter @realtmobile.

The campaign continues. We are active in organizing. We are active politically. We are about to launch a major international initiative. We are thinking through the future of this company and reaching out to the investment community. We are working with a variety of stakeholders.

CWA Vice President Ed Mooney, who led the delegation of T-Mobile employees to Germany in May, is back! On Thursday, June 24, he appeared on talk radio in Bethlehem with a T-Mobile employee from Pennsylvania somewhere. We hope to have the audio file posted soon to the web site.

Do you know what a difference the union makes? Check out the post on How They Do It in Germany. She looks at the little things that matter so much - individual monitoring, how pay is structured, and break time. She finds that in general call center work is stressful but that the union (ver.di) negotiates a work environment that is much more humane.

Estamos Juntos? T-Mobile is actively reaching out to the Hispanic community as part of its attempt to revive its fortunes. Unfortunately, the company is not doing a good job of "sticking together" for either employees or customers. For those of you following the World Cup, you may know that T-Mobile is a major promoter of soccer, especially in the Hispanic community. We suggest, however, that T-Mobile deserves a red card for its treatment of employees.

There are some indications that the issues facing stakeholders at T-Mobile are present in different forms throughout Deutsche Telekom. In What's Going on at Deutsche Telekom, we note managerial corruption at DT Greece, rigged bidding involving DT in Serbia, a step backward in corporate transparency at DT Hungary, and the recent resolution of the corporate snooping scandal in Germany that left a rather nasty smell. Back in the U.S., T-Mobile may have obstructed justice in a homicide investigation.

The corporate spying scandal at DT was once thought to have compromised the career of incoming T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm. His appointment changed all that... but it is pretty high stakes for DT CEO René Obermann.

As for the fortunes of T-Mobile USA, please note that CWA released an investor alert last week. We hate to be pessimistic, but mainstream observers are not excited by the company's future. We note that Deutsche Telekom is no longer traded on the New York Stock Exchange. I have no love for the NYSE but it does have listing standards the company no longer has to meet - to the detriment of investors. Tell me again how the company will raise money for the 4G network?

For all you Apple fans out there, we note the speculation that the iPhone may be offered by T-Mobile or Verizon or... ?

We noted last week as well that T-Mobile is shutting down a repair facility in Georgia, only to outsource the work. How is that for respecting employees?

There are some observers out there who believe the brand T-Mobile will disappear in 2011. Maybe we should have a contest to re-name the company!

That's it for now. Visit us at the web site and on Facebook.

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