CWA Launches New Website to Help T-Mobile US Workers Speak Out

[Omaha Steve]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2013

CONTACT: Candice Johnson or Kendra Marr Chaikind, CWA Communications,202-434-1168, [e-mail], [e-mail]

CWA Launches New Website to Help T-Mobile US Workers Speak Out

WASHINGTON, DC — The Communications Workers of America (CWA) today launched an innovative new website, www.TMobileWorkersUnited.org, run by workers for workers. T-Mobile Workers United, or TU, is an alliance of hundreds of call center representatives, retail associates and technicians who are standing up to discuss the issues and challenges they face at the new T-Mobile US, a merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.

The website makes it easier for T-Mobile and MetroPCS employees to connect to a network of their colleagues across the country and gives them the social media tools to support and raise awareness about TU.

Here’s what workers are saying online:

· “With the recent acquisition of Metro PCS (9 million no contract customers and no customer service based in the USA) the winds of change are blowing. T-Mobile USA stopped employees’ raises and stopped the phone incentive for employees. We feel if we don’t unite soon, more call centers may soon be on the chopping blocks for downsizing.” – Roland Ellis (Nashville, TN)

· “I joined TU because I was tired of the unfair treatment. Sometimes I feel like they think they can do whatever they want and there is nobody governing them or there to tell them they are wrong. And when you try to tell them they are wrong, it gets disrespectful. It becomes the type of environment that shouldn’t be a work environment. This is not the streets. You don’t get in someone’s face and tell them they are wrong. You don’t intimidate someone to not voice their opinion or not stand up for themselves.”– Adrian Dominguez (New York, NY)

· “I’m organizing because, basically, I feel a calling for it. I do care about what happens to young people, especially young workers. I’m at the end of my working life so I’m not afraid. And I just feel like people need to step up and make the American labor movement understand what’s going on. We’re going downhill fast and it really concerns me.” – Candace Harrison (Albuquerque, NM)

Check out more stories and videos at www.TMobileWorkersUnited.org. If you would like to speak with a worker, please contact Kendra Marr Chaikind at [e-mail].

In 2011, CWA, ver.di, the German union that represents workers at T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom, and a coalition of community and labor groups around the world partnered on an international campaignto win workers a voice and respect at T-Mobile. The company’s anti-union campaign has been brutal: Workers who even express interest in organizing have faced harassment, intimidation and surveillance. The National Labor Relations Board has repeatedly sent the telecommunications giant warnings for its behavior.

This May, T-Mobile officially merged with MetroPCS, combining T-Mobile’s 30,000 employees and 33.2 million customers with MetroPCS’s 3,700 workers and 9.3 million customers.

Workers want this new company to succeed, and they believe that justice and respect in the workplace are essential for that success.

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Communications Workers of America represents 700,000 workers in telecommunications, media, airlines, public service, health care and manufacturing.