A letter from District 1, VP Chris Shelton
Dear Angel,
On Tuesday, we had a great victory when the first group of T-Mobile USA workers voted to join CWA. Fifteen technicians in Connecticut finally overcame years of aggressive management union busting.
We would like to extend a special thank you to Representative Tim Bishop for standing up for workers’ rights and addressing the aggressive union busting tactics of T-Mobile USA in his remarks at a hearing in the House of Representatives.
Representative Bishop grew up in a family that knew what it meant to belong to a union, as his father was a CWA member. He has heard the stories from some of the brave technicians who risk their economic lives to form a union, about how T-Mobile USA uses fear as a tool in trying to crush their voice on the job. Representative Bishop committed to continuing to advocate on their behalf to ensure the New York technicians have the opportunity for a fair elections free of employer intimidation and hopefully join their Connecticut colleagues in CWA.
The behavior of companies like T-Mobile USA is outrageous. We need more politicians like Representative Bishop to stand up for our rights.
Click here to say thank you to Representative Tim Bishop.
In Unity,
Chris Shelton
Vice President
CWA District 1
T-Mobile Workers Win Union Voice In Connecticut
CWA, Jul 19, 2011
Hamden, Connecticut — T-Mobile USA technicians in Connecticut voted Tuesday for representation by the Communications Workers of America-TU.
The vote was 8-7 for CWA-TU representation with one challenged ballot of a union supporter who had recently transferred into the unit. The challenge will not affect the outcome.
The Connecticut technicians are the first to vote for union representation at T-Mobile USA. T-Mobile operations in Germany, owned by Deutsche Telekom, fully respect workers’ right to bargain collectively, but U.S. management historically had undertaken a campaign of delaying tactics and interference to intimidate workers. The Connecticut techs stood strong against these tactics and for a union voice.
“CWA is proud to work with these T-Mobile techs, and with T-Mobile workers in New York who want to organize and bargain for a voice on the job. They stood up for what’s right,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton.
CWA Local 1298 President Bill Henderson said “this vote made history, with T-Mobile workers fighting back to beat the odds and win the union voice they want. It showed the desire of people to have a union and an even playing field. Hopefully this will mean a new direction for all working people.”
Bo Larsen, World President of UNI Telecom, representing 3 million workers, who observed the election to show the continuing supporting of the global labor movement for the rights of T-Mobile USA workers for a union voice, said: “No worker should be intimidated for wanting a union voice and bargaining rights.”
Last week, UNI Global Union joined the International Trade Union Confederation (representing 175 million workers); ver.di, the union for DT workers and CWA in filing a complaint under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises against DT and T-Mobile for anti-worker activities in the United States. Read the complaint here http://weexpectbetter.org/oecd.