Hundreds of German Workers Rally to Support Americans
at T-Mobile

Cumminication Workers of America (CWA) May 19, 2011

http://www.loweringthebarforus.org/

    At DT Shareholders' Meeting, Protesters Demand
    Rights for U.S. Colleagues

Supporting American workers fighting for their rights
at T-Mobile, more than 500 members of the German
telecom union ver.di protested last week in Cologne at
parent company Deutsche Telekom's shareholder meeting.

Video;http://tinyurl.com/3ftwj8s

More than 500 German workers descended on Deutsche
Telekom's global shareholders' meeting in Cologne last
Thursday to demand that the company respect the right
of its American T-Mobile employees to unionize and
bargain collectively.

The workers, members of the German telecommunications
union ver.di, formed a human chain around the meeting
venue and released black balloons in mourning for their
U.S. coworkers' lack of rights.

Union leaders warned Deutsche Telekom that its attitude
toward American workers could jeopardize its pending
sale of T-Mobile to AT&T. Noting political opposition
to the sale, Lothar Schröder said DT needs the
continued support of ver.di, CWA and their joint union,
TU. Schröder is deputy chairman of the DT supervisory
board and a ver.di national executive board member.
"But that must ultimately mean an end to the opposition
to union activities at T-Mobile USA," he said.

Inside the May 12 meeting, Kornelia Dubbel pointedly
asked Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann, "Will you
from this point forward ensure that CWA has access to
T-Mobile USA businesses so that they can introduce
themselves to the employees?" Dubbel is a member of the
T-Mobile supervisory board.

German workers formed a human chain around the meeting
venue and released black balloons.

German workers formed a human chain around the meeting
venue and released black balloons.

Dubbel suggested that the company consider the fact
that T-Mobile workers favor the pending sale because
they'd rather work for an employer, AT&T, that respects
its workers' union rights. "The employees and the CWA
union both welcome the sale, and they put a great deal
of hope in it, in terms of changes to the employees, to
union rights, and to labor conditions," she said. "Do
you want to do justice to this and correct your anti-
union course?"

CWA President Larry Cohen and many T-Mobile workers on
social networking sites thanked the German workers for
fighting for them, with the events at the shareholders'
meeting just the latest in ver.di's show of solidarity.

The day before the meeting, Cohen testified on Capitol
Hill in support of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger.
In addition to expanding high-speed Internet access,
creating jobs and providing new benefits for consumers,
he said the merger would give T-Mobile workers the
long-sought opportunity to join a union.

Workers took snapshots of each other posing with a
giant "Solidarity Membership Card."

Workers took snapshots of each other posing with a
giant "Solidarity Membership Card."

But T-Mobile workers shouldn't have to wait any longer,
said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the
International Trade Union Confederation. "T-Mobile
employees should not have to wait in hope for over a
year for their union rights," she said of the pending
merger. "Deutsche Telekom should do the right thing by
its U.S. workforce now."

Philip Jennings, general secretary of UNI Global Union
said "responsible employers" don't behave as Deutsche
Telekom has. "We expect better from one of the world's
leading telecom companies with solid industrial
relations in its home country," he said.

Find more photos, links to Facebook and Twitter to
support T-Mobile workers and much more at the campaign
website, www.loweringthebarforus.org

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