Unions attack mobile phone firm

T-Mobile workers said no to a union

T-Mobile, the mobile telecommunications company, has been accused of going to "extraordinary lengths" in order to prevent some of its UK workforce from voting for union representation.

According to the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which lost a ballot of employees by a ratio of 2 to 1, the company co-opted an American firm, the Burke Group (TBG), with a reputation for giving anti-union advice.

In a seven-minute video sent to 550 workers T-Mobiles' chief technology officer Fred Mount said that union recognition would "hurt" the company.

Mr Mount added that union recognition could affect workers' pay rates.

Very subtle

The union intends to send a copy of the video to the Department of Trade and Industry to highlight tactics used by the company.

A union spokesperson told BBC News Online that they thought the integrity of the union recognition vote had been undermined by the video and other tactics employed by T-Mobile.

According to the union some workers were called in for briefings on why they should not vote for the union to be recognised to negotiate pay, holidays and hours.

Donald McDonald, telecoms organising officer for the CWU said: "The method the company used was very subtle but it contained disinformation."

In response a spokesperson for T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom, said the company was not anti-union but did not believe that collective bargaining was the most sensible option for its workers.