T-Mobile is doing everything it can to stop its workers from forming a union -- but only in the USA. Worldwide, and especially in Germany where T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom is based, T-Mobile workers benefit from better protections than their American counterparts because of an employee union.

In the US, T-Mobile's annual shareholders’ meeting is just a few weeks away and shareholders of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, met just last week. Now is the moment to tell T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom: There’s just no excuse for corporations treating workers in one country significantly worse than workers elsewhere. 

SumOfUs members can put pressure on T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom to respond to labor violations with a human rights risk assessment of all of its operations. When shareholders and consumers stand together, we can make corporations stop and listen.

Tell T-Mobile to respect its workers’ right to organize in every country where it operates.

German Deutsche Telekom employees visiting the US were shocked to find out about the working conditions of their American colleagues. They found employees subject to humiliating forms of discipline, like wearing a dunce cap. Supervisors in the US interrogated workers about union activities, and then retaliated against workers by firing them. The German workers went home wondering whether Deutsche Telekom’s Social Charter on international standards meant anything at all.

T-Mobile is fighting tooth-and-nail to maintain an environment that’s openly hostile to workers organizing together. The fourth biggest telecommunications provider in the US is so egregious in the treatment of its workers that Human Rights Watch included its international labor violations in a report on workers’ rights and European multinational corporations. 

News outlets just reported that T-Mobile gained 2.4 million customers in the first quarter of 2014. As customers, we can and should demand T-Mobile act responsibly and ethically towards the workers that are helping it grow.

SumOfUs members stood with Walmart workers in support of workers who were fired for organizing. As with Walmart, we can win against T-Mobile if we stand up again to support workers fighting for the right to organize, no matter which country they are from.

Sign the petition to demand that T-Mobile provide a comprehensive report to investors and consumers on its labor practices!

More Information:

T-Mobile adds 2.4 million customers in first quarter, USA Today, May 1, 2014. 

Report on Deutsche Telekom Visit with T-Mobile USA Workers, May 2012.