German Delegation Ends T-Mobile Tour Stunned by U.S. Anti-Unionism

[xchrom]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2012/02/27/german-delegation-ends-t-mobile-tour-stunned-by-u-s-anti-unionism/



Emmelle Israel, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, sends us this.

Last week, Deutsche Telekom techs, customer service reps and retail employees from Germany toured the United States to visit with their T-Mobile USA counterparts in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Tenn., and Frisco, Texas, and learn more about the double standard practices the German company adopts when operating abroad.

T-Mobile workers from this country and Deutsche Telekom workers from Germany have been engaged for many years in a global campaign to create a real voice at work for employees at T-Mobile call centers and retail outlets. Exchanges of personal stories and visits of worker delegations between the two countries have led to an even deeper sense of international solidarity.

As he waited to board the plane to D.C., Stephan from Düsseldorf recalled the first time he met T-Mobile workers who had come to Germany:

'They came to Germany to fight for their rights even though they were afraid that because of taking holidays they wouldn’t achieve monthly sales goals. This would be unimaginable at Telekom in Germany. The meetings in Düsseldorf were an important information exchange for both sides but it also was the beginning of some friendships between union activists across the ocean.'

Once in the United States, the delegation met with T-Mobile workers who are currently struggling to form a union in their workplace. After the meeting, Conny, a Deutsche Telekom retail employee, reflected:

'It makes me really angry that employees are intimidated and harassed when they want to join a union. Companies like T-Mobile seem to use every possible tactic to prevent unionization.

I think our colleagues are quite brave and have a lot of courage as they fight for their rights despite their own personal risks. They are all employed on an at-will basis, which means that they can be fired from one day to another. So they really worry about their future.'

[lunatica]

1. Fundamental worker rights 101 = unions

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

Fucking aye.

[CTyankee]

3. I really think western europeans think we americans are crazy.

They sure as hell don't want to come here to experience our "freedoms," even if some of them admire some things about us (I remember talking with a Dutch guy who was just enthralled with the music in Austin, when he spent some time working there).

[Duer 157099]

4. Many of us Americans think we Americans are crazy

for the same reasons

[CTyankee]

5. I was very interested in the Dutch guy's assessment of Austin, TX.

I told him that Austin was not the rest of TX, that it was a bastion of liberalism in a very conservative state. Altho he found it too hot the summer he spent there, he said he did enjoy having more sun. I granted him that but asked his assessment of the food. He liked it a lot, so I figured his crowd was the better educated there in Austin and, as such, sought out the good restaurants which tend to spring up in liberal, university towns...

[TBF]

30. Europeans realize that "freedom"

in this country has turned into freedom to subjugate others and step on as many folks as you have to in order to make your profit. It's disgusting. I had some clients from England spend several months here and they were surprised at how "religious" people were. At that point I was living in Washington DC; their heads may have exploded had they visited Texas. But they noted how frequently folks talked about church, billboards about religious issues in Virginia, etc... they were astonished that it was such a presence here. And that was back in the 90s - I think it is much more blatant now.

[uponit7771]

6. IIRC even exempt employees have unions, unions meen a lot in Germany

[PA Democrat]

7. Have you ever read about WalMart's failed attempt to expand into Germany?

One of the reasons for the spectacular failure (which cost WalMart a reported $1 billion) was its failure to understand and work within German culture and German labor practices. WalMart failed to take into account the German laws protecting workers and just didn't understand why so many Germans found WalMart such an unpleasant place to work.

The morning pep rally that WalMart employees have to participate in right before store openings were viewed as ludicrous by German employees who used the time to disappear into the store restrooms. The ban on dating other WalMart employees was also something that Germans found bizarre. WalMart also requires its employees travelling on business to share a hotel room, a practice that is unheard of in Germany.

When German consumers found the WalMart greeters a little bit creepy and preferred to bag their own groceries, WalMart found they could not just fire people like they could in the US. German workers enjoy many more protections compared to their US counterparts. Overall, WalMart employed a management by “hubris and clash of cultures" in its treatment of German workers.

http://www.iwim.uni-bremen.de/publikationen/pdf/w024.pdf

[xchrom]

8. +1

[CTyankee]

9. I just love this!

Americans are so oblivious to what is going on in wealthy, modern industrialized countries in Europe. The lady who cuts my hair at SuperCuts was astonished when I told her about child care in places like Sweden, where women have paid time off for several years after the birth of their child. She blurted out "That's not fair!"

She's right. It's not fair. We should all have that benefit in this country and it's a shame we don't.

[PA Democrat]

11. Oh, another one of my favorite parts of this story is the employee hotline

WalMart established for employees to anonomously report coworkers for "rules violations." Who could have ever imagined that such a ploy would be met with horror by people living in a country that had suffered the excesses of governments using such techniques under the Third Reich and the East Germany regime?

The German media was quick to report on WalMart's bad treatment of their German employees and many Germans, who are a lot less tolerant of corporate abuse of workers, refused to shop there.

[CTyankee]

12. I wonder if that caused WalMart to rethink its policies...just a tad...

[flygal]

13. I lived in Germany during that time

I used to think it would be fun to shopck at a Walmart in Germany but it was just creepy. The store was so empty and yeah, the people who worked there did not seem happy. I was not surprised when they sold to Real.

We've moved back to Germany and even though are taxes are about 15% more we get almost free sports clubs (in the us with kids that was running us about $200/month) plus my husband gets 6 weeks of vacation plus a ton of holidays. Not to mention the kick ass public transportation! So, we don't have as much money to spend on extras, but we have enough and good quality of life. I know we'll end up back in the US but I hope when we do it has it's priorities changed back to benefit the workers.

[DFW]

19. I'm in Germany, too

There used to be a WalMart near us before Real bought them up, but I never saw a greeter at WalMart.
Maybe they didn't have them everywhere. The one near us had plenty of customers, as its location was
well thought-out. But they failed in general in Germany, reportedly due to a combination of their poor
treatment of their employees and their management's lack of ability to adapt to Germany. They might have
been too cheap to hire expensive German management, and trying to force US methods on the Germans
is practically doomed to failure.

I must say that paying 49% in taxes as opposed to the 35% I was used to in Texas is an adjustment,
especially since my salary is still paid out in the USA, and I get none of the benefts a German citizen
gets. But my wife is retiring soon, and my position permits me to take as much vacation as I want, so
as soon as my wife is free to travel with me, I WILL want!!

[shcrane71]

17. Have you heard about the abuses of Amazon employees at their shipping warehouses?

Today's, On Point, with Tom Ashcroft was about those abuses, and naturally Tom scoffed at one email from someone who said that they just divested from all their Amazon stock.

Every day I wonder if Americans truly care about one another.

[Zalatix]

10. A BILLION??? LOL. That's almost real money right there.

[Dack]

15. Does Wal-Mart spy on its employees?

I don't know much about Wal-Mart but Lidl, a big German based multi-national supermarket chain, engages in unethical treatment:

"both The Guardian[8] and The Times[9] in the UK amongst other allegations have reported that Lidl spies on its workforce with cameras, makes extensive notes on employee behaviour, particularly focusing on attempting to sack female workers who might become pregnant and also forces staff at warehouses to do "piece-rate" work. Lidl management has denied the charges. In Italy, in 2003, a judge in Savona sentenced Lidl for anti-union policies, a crime in that country.[10] Lidl has been criticised in the United Kingdom and Ireland for not allowing workers to join unions.

In March 2008 the German news magazine Stern released a cover story reporting systematic surveillance of Lidl workers, including the most intimate details of their private affairs.[11][12][13]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidl#Criticism_of_Lidl.27s_treatment_of_its_staff
It's only one example, there are other huge supermarket chains like ALDI who engage in similar behaviour (intimidation, spying, questionable firing (if lucky reversed by courts), salaries so low that you're better off on welfare, discrimination against women, dehumanising treatment in general, no minimum wage).

The right to form unions is absolutely necessary for a real democracy. Countries with big labour movements and unions like Bolivia or Brazil makes us, and especially the US, look like we are living in a corporate dictatorship.
Forming unions is only a small step. Who represents the workforce? A small group in suits who negotiate with managers behind closed doors?

[Hissyspit]

16. I've always found greeters creepy.

Why would anyone not?

[2ndAmForComputers]

22. Ha

[JDPriestly]

26. Thanks for pointing out some important differences.

[eridani]

29. Excellent link. Thanks! n/t

[dragonlady]

14. Union rights are guaranteed in the German constitution

Article 9 (3) of the Basic Law (constitution) reads:

The right to form associations to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions shall be guaranteed to every individual and to every occupation and profession. Agreements that restrict or seek to impair this right shall be null and void; measures directed to this end shall be unlawful. Measures (using police or armed forces) may not be directed against industrial disputes engaged in by associations within the meaning of the first sentence of this paragraph in order to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions.

[Diclotican]

25. dragonlady

dragonlady

The reason that Article 9 (3) of the Basic Law, or the constitition exist, is becouse between 1933 and 1945, the german worker had no rights whatoever, and in fact, many of the laws, who was made legal under the Weimar republic, was dispanded for the 12 year of Nazi Regime in Germany

And it was also a way to be sure that the german workers - who both before the war and after the war the bulk of german workers, never got into the nazi-thing, and was allways solid socialist, or at least social-democratic.. Berlin, the German capital was maybe the most "red" city in the whole of 3 RICH, and Dr Gobbels hated the working class in Berlin, becouse they even when he was on the top, managed to make rude jokes about his, lets say less than arian figure..

Diclotican

[dragonlady]

31. Thanks for the comments

It seems that the Germans made a great effort to get it right when they were writing their Basic Law, in many areas of life.

[midnight]

18. K&R

[Solly Mack]

20. K&R

[Snake Alchemist]

21. Yeah right. I worked for a German company and they loved the fact that they could take advantage

of non-union labor. They even tried to eliminate MLK day from our holiday schedule because they didn't consider it a "real" holiday.

[xchrom]

23. Well write to the AFL-CIO site and ask

For verification.

Germans aren't monolithic, I would suspect.

[Luminous Animal]

27. German owned companies in the U.S. WILL exploit their labor as much or nearly

as much as U.S. laws and legislators will allow.

The difference is that labor (the 99%) have much more power in Germany than do the 99% do in the U.S.

And, while they are currently fighting to retain a well deserved and generally adequate economic net, we are fighting to have one at all.

[pampango]

28. "The difference is that labor (the 99%) have much more power in Germany than...in the US."

Well said.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/149305/good_wages,_unions_and_government_regulation_are_the_solutions,_not_causes,_of_our_economic_woes/

Germany pays higher wages, has strong unions, has much more government involvement and is doing better as a result. Conclusion: our wages, unions and government are not the problem, they are the solution.

Hourly manufacturing compensation (wages plus benefits) was $48 in Germany in 2008 - the most recent year surveyed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics - while it was $32 in the United States. Yet Germany is an export giant, while we are the colossus of imports.

In Germany, workers also get six weeks vacation - by law, federally mandated, a right. They get health care, university, child care and pensions and as a result they have higher productivity. In Germany, the government requires worker representatives to hold seats on the boards of directors of companies, depending on the number of workers. Government-funded research and vocational training, and policies to retain skilled workers bring another competitive advantage.

The result of all this government interference is that Germany's export-oriented manufacturing economy recovered from the recession and is doing OK, and their workers are paid well and have great benefits.

[freshwest]

24. Great news. But I went and read the comments. They have a troll problem.