Activists will urge T-Mobile to end human rights abuses

BELLEVUE — At T-Mobile’s 2014 annual meeting on Thursday, June 5, shareholders and activists will call on T-Mobile US to treat its employees with respect. Amber Diaz, a T-Mobile worker who was fired for her union activity, will speak at the 9:30 a.m. meeting at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue to question T-Mobile’s record of labor rights abuses.

“I stood up to T-Mobile because I wanted to have a say in what happens at work,” Diaz said. “The price for organizing a union at T-Mobile is losing your job and I had to pay that price. It’s not right that workers have to risk their livelihood just to get justice at work.”

The AFL-CIO and The Marco Consulting Group, owners of T-Mobile common stock, have also filed a shareholder proposal calling on the T-Mobile board of directors to report to shareholders about how it assess human rights risks in its operations and supply chain, in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It will appear as proposal #4 on the T-Mobile proxy card.

TAKE A STAND!  Sign an online petition urging support for this effort to make T-Mobile’s Board of Directors report to shareholders on human rights compliance.

T-Mobile’s German parent company Deutsche Telekom articulates its own business responsibility to respect human rights and remedy abuses and acknowledges that workers’ rights are human rights, but T-Mobile hasn’t followed that example. In fact, T-Mobile has faced allegations that it has violated its employee’ freedom of association and right to organize. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has repeatedly issued complaints against the company, which include discharging and disciplining of union activists, and recently the NLRB made the extraordinary decision to consolidate the cases brought against the company.

Outside the meeting, union activists will be raising awareness about T-Mobile workers’ struggle for a voice on the job, and supporters will be using the hashtag #justiceattmobile.