Deutsche Telekom Faces Huge Strikes

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makes it almost impossible to complete daily workloads. Up to 16 different programs have to be booted up to enter individual customer data. Employees are "condemned to idleness for minutes" while they wait, says Dubbel. Spinning off the employees into a new company does nothing to change these circumstances, she says, except that "motivation will plunge even further."

Part 2: 'A Strike Is Unavoidable'
Ver.di refuses to accept Obermann's argument that Telekom's employees are up to 30 percent more expensive than the competition's. According to the union, Telekom deliberately includes all compensation above the general pay scale in its calculations, while failing to mention perks paid by competitors.

Participants in the five rounds of negotiations conducted so far have not even addressed the working conditions at T-Service for the employees who are being spun off. The union reluctantly came to terms with the new unit long ago. Instead, Ver.di's goal in the negotiations was to fight for a collective bargaining agreement that would protect employees from outsourcing, a sort of grandfathering clause meant to protect employees against the worst financial losses. But the negotiating parties were unable to produce a compromise, which leads Bsirske to conclude that a "strike is unavoidable."

STRIKE VOTE
Last Friday Ver.di's main bargaining committee decided to introduce a strike vote, the results of which are expected by Wednesday of this week. If the union has its way, a total of 30,000 employees will go on temporary walkouts during the three-day voting periods. No one seriously expects the strike vote to fail, especially with more than 70 percent of Telekom employees organized in trade unions. Ver.di plans to announce the results of the vote on Thursday of this week, immediately following the announcement of Telekom's quarterly figures -- and then call a strike.

Instead of planning a "wild sweeping blow," the union wants to "temporarily shut down sensitive, high-profile projects" at T-Systems, which is already ailing, says Ado Wilhelm, director of the union's labor dispute division. Beginning next week, major insurance companies, banks and industrial operations can expect to encounter reductions in their communications options. "We are deliberately not including private customers, so as not to jeopardize the general population's sympathy for our position," says Wilhelm.

DISRUPTED COMMUNICATIONS AT G-8 SUMMIT?
Union officials are not even willing to rule out the possibility of a strike that would affect the communications infrastructure at the G-8 summit at the Heiligendamm Baltic Sea resort in early June, even though Telekom has already asked Ver.di to refrain from resorting to such tactics. "Of course, the company is concerned about its international reputation," says Wilhelm, "but that isn't our problem."

The union feels confident that it has its legal bases covered. Although a provider of telecommunications services is required by law to guarantee uninterrupted service, how this is done is the provider's business. Only safety- and security-related communications systems, such as those connected to the fire department, police and hospitals, cannot be the target of strikes.

The strike planners have already devised a plan that shows exactly which employees, throughout the country, can be pulled from their positions and when this can take place. It is possible that the roughly 40 percent of Telekom employees who are also government employees will take part, even though they are in fact barred from striking. "We haven't tested this yet," says Wilhelm. "But if push comes to shove, even that conflict is not one that we will shy away from." Ver.di's position is that civil servants should only be barred from striking if they work directly for the government. But, according to Ver.di, the legal situation changes the minute they become employees of a private company.

Meanwhile, Telekom has taken a demonstratively relaxed approach. If Ver.di continues to be so obstinate and insists on "preserving vested rights," says Obermann, "we will have to begin thinking about a possible sale to a third party."

But finding potential buyers is another story altogether. Ver.di's chief negotiator, Lothar Schröder, has already defined his union's approach in case a buyer is in fact found: "Then we'll simply cause trouble for them."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

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