LOCAL
Workers: T-Mobile is the Walmart of wireless
Inside the meeting, Amber Diaz, a TU member and former T-Mobile employee from Albuquerque, N.M., called on Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges to justify the $29 million salary paid last year to T-Mobile US CEO John Legere, while thousands of T-Mobile workers are paid wages that are so low that they qualify for government assistance, including food stamps and other aid. DT is the parent company of T-Mobile US.
Diaz was fired for her union activities by T-Mobile, despite having worked for eight years as a top producer. A National Labor Relations Board hearing about her illegal firing and other illegal actions by T-Mobile will begin in September.
“Mr. Höttges, is ‘reasonable remuneration’ a wage so low a worker needs government assistance? Ultimately, taxpayers are subsidizing the company, and that fact can hurt T-Mobile’s image. Will you commit to ending poverty wages at T-Mobile? We at T-Mobile would love to see a contract. Mr. Legere has a contract. Shouldn’t workers also have contracts?” she asked.
The proposal calls on T-Mobile to report on human rights risks in its own operations and in its supply chain. That would include the recent consolidation of complaints by the NLRB general counsel that T-Mobile violated workers’ rights under federal labor law. Walmart is the only other U.S. employer to have faced a consolidated complaint for its federal labor law violations.
Brandon Rees, deputy director of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, said:
Human rights violations can have detrimental effects on a company’s reputation and its brand name. Ensuring that T-Mobile complies with human rights is good for T-Mobile’s business and its shareholders.
CWA and AFL-CIO Now contributed to this report.