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marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
November 23, 2012
from In These Times:
Mediation Fails to Resolve Hostess Strike — Owners Intent on Dissolving the Company
By Bruce Vail
A national strike against Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, continued today as a last-ditch attempt at mediation failed and the owners of the company moved toward the final shuttering of the company and the elimination of about 18,000 jobs.
A federal bankruptcy judge attempted Tuesday to mediate the strike by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), but no agreement was reached, according to a statement from Hostess Brands. The company said it intended to seek approvals from the court to close down the company permanently.
Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York agreed to personally mediate the BCTGM strike that began Nov. 9, but his offer came only after Hostess CEO Gregory Raymond announced Nov. 16 that he would close the company for good.
BCTGM spokesperson Corrina Christensen told Working In These Times that the union would have no immediate comment on the mediation talks. Some 5,000 BCTGM members are still on strike, she said, with active picket lines at many of Hostess’ 33 bakeries. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14222/mediation_fails_to_resolve_hostess_strike_owners_intent_on_dissolving_the_c/
Mediation Fails to Resolve Hostess Strike — Owners Intent on Dissolving the Company
from In These Times:
Mediation Fails to Resolve Hostess Strike — Owners Intent on Dissolving the Company
By Bruce Vail
A national strike against Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, continued today as a last-ditch attempt at mediation failed and the owners of the company moved toward the final shuttering of the company and the elimination of about 18,000 jobs.
A federal bankruptcy judge attempted Tuesday to mediate the strike by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), but no agreement was reached, according to a statement from Hostess Brands. The company said it intended to seek approvals from the court to close down the company permanently.
Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York agreed to personally mediate the BCTGM strike that began Nov. 9, but his offer came only after Hostess CEO Gregory Raymond announced Nov. 16 that he would close the company for good.
BCTGM spokesperson Corrina Christensen told Working In These Times that the union would have no immediate comment on the mediation talks. Some 5,000 BCTGM members are still on strike, she said, with active picket lines at many of Hostess’ 33 bakeries. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14222/mediation_fails_to_resolve_hostess_strike_owners_intent_on_dissolving_the_c/
November 23, 2012
from Der Spiegel:
Despite hours of talks in Brussels on Thursday night, European Union leaders made little progress toward agreement on the bloc's budget for the years 2014 to 2020. Britain and other countries have remained steadfast in their demands for cuts. A second summit looks to be the only likely outcome.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz began losing his temper as time wore on. It is "extremely irresponsible," he told the 27 European Union heads of state and government gathered in Brussels, when EU member states deny the bloc necessary funding. The €1.091 trillion budget proposed by the European Commission, he said, is commensurate because it will also stimulate growth.
Schulz spoke just before midnight as the European Union budget summit, aimed at agreeing on bloc funding for the seven-year period between 2014 and 2020, finally got underway after a three-hour delay. His plea had little effect, though. British Prime Minister David Cameron, his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte and Swedish Premier Fredrik Reinfeldt continued to demand billions in cuts. German Chancellor Angela Merkel likewise found the proposed budget to be too large.
Every seven years, European Union leaders must come together to agree on a new spending plan, and this year's Commission proposal has been particularly controversial. At a time when many EU countries have tightened their belts significantly, an increase to the EU budget, slight though it may be, has not proven popular among net contributors. They would like to see the budget cut to between €890 billion (the British target) and €960 billion (as Germany has proposed). But the 17 net recipient countries support the higher Commission proposal. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-union-leaders-in-brussels-fail-to-reach-agreement-on-budget-a-868872.html
EU Budget Summit Heading toward Failure
from Der Spiegel:
Despite hours of talks in Brussels on Thursday night, European Union leaders made little progress toward agreement on the bloc's budget for the years 2014 to 2020. Britain and other countries have remained steadfast in their demands for cuts. A second summit looks to be the only likely outcome.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz began losing his temper as time wore on. It is "extremely irresponsible," he told the 27 European Union heads of state and government gathered in Brussels, when EU member states deny the bloc necessary funding. The €1.091 trillion budget proposed by the European Commission, he said, is commensurate because it will also stimulate growth.
Schulz spoke just before midnight as the European Union budget summit, aimed at agreeing on bloc funding for the seven-year period between 2014 and 2020, finally got underway after a three-hour delay. His plea had little effect, though. British Prime Minister David Cameron, his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte and Swedish Premier Fredrik Reinfeldt continued to demand billions in cuts. German Chancellor Angela Merkel likewise found the proposed budget to be too large.
Every seven years, European Union leaders must come together to agree on a new spending plan, and this year's Commission proposal has been particularly controversial. At a time when many EU countries have tightened their belts significantly, an increase to the EU budget, slight though it may be, has not proven popular among net contributors. They would like to see the budget cut to between €890 billion (the British target) and €960 billion (as Germany has proposed). But the 17 net recipient countries support the higher Commission proposal. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-union-leaders-in-brussels-fail-to-reach-agreement-on-budget-a-868872.html
November 23, 2012
from The Atlantic:
Who's Really to Blame for the Wal-Mart Strikes? The American Consumer
By Jordan Weissmann
The Wal-Mart workers threatening to walk off the job on Black Friday aren't just fighting their employer. They're fighting a whole system.
Forget the stampeding shoppers, the half-priced waffle irons, or the pepper spray wielding wackos: barring a federal intervention, the main event this Black Friday could turn out to be a showdown between organized labor and its arch corporate nemesis, Wal-Mart.
After organizing the first retail workers' strikes in the company's 50-year history last month, a union-backed group has promised to lead work stoppages and demonstrations at Wal-Mart stores around the country this holiday weekend in protest of its famously aggressive labor practices. Nobody truly knows how big the turnout will be, or if even more than a handful of Wal-Mart's 1.4 million U.S. employees will actually walk off the job. We might witness something historic, or we might witness a sideshow that shoppers ignore while brawling for bargains. Either way, the threat has made Wal-Mart nervous enough to ask the National Labor Relations Board for an injunction stopping the protests. Should they go on, they will be a test of whether, after years of failing to organize the country's largest employer, labor groups still have the wherewithal to take it on.
It would be a mistake, however, to think of this simply as a clash over one company. Rather, it's symptomatic of forces Wal-Mart helped set in motion and now shape our economy in fundamental way. It's about big box retail's refusal to pay a decent wage. It's about the way we've stacked the deck against unions. And it's about the choices we make as consumers.
Wal-Mart's Bad, But the Competition Isn't Much Better
As Harold Meyerson noted recently in The American Prospect, whereas Ford and General Motors paid their factory workers enough to buy the cars they built, Wal-Mart rose up by paying "its workers so little they had to shop at discount stores like Wal-Mart." ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/11/whos-really-to-blame-for-the-wal-mart-strikes-the-american-consumer/265542/
Striking Wal-Mart workers aren't just fighting their employer. They're fighting a whole system.
from The Atlantic:
Who's Really to Blame for the Wal-Mart Strikes? The American Consumer
By Jordan Weissmann
The Wal-Mart workers threatening to walk off the job on Black Friday aren't just fighting their employer. They're fighting a whole system.
Forget the stampeding shoppers, the half-priced waffle irons, or the pepper spray wielding wackos: barring a federal intervention, the main event this Black Friday could turn out to be a showdown between organized labor and its arch corporate nemesis, Wal-Mart.
After organizing the first retail workers' strikes in the company's 50-year history last month, a union-backed group has promised to lead work stoppages and demonstrations at Wal-Mart stores around the country this holiday weekend in protest of its famously aggressive labor practices. Nobody truly knows how big the turnout will be, or if even more than a handful of Wal-Mart's 1.4 million U.S. employees will actually walk off the job. We might witness something historic, or we might witness a sideshow that shoppers ignore while brawling for bargains. Either way, the threat has made Wal-Mart nervous enough to ask the National Labor Relations Board for an injunction stopping the protests. Should they go on, they will be a test of whether, after years of failing to organize the country's largest employer, labor groups still have the wherewithal to take it on.
It would be a mistake, however, to think of this simply as a clash over one company. Rather, it's symptomatic of forces Wal-Mart helped set in motion and now shape our economy in fundamental way. It's about big box retail's refusal to pay a decent wage. It's about the way we've stacked the deck against unions. And it's about the choices we make as consumers.
Wal-Mart's Bad, But the Competition Isn't Much Better
As Harold Meyerson noted recently in The American Prospect, whereas Ford and General Motors paid their factory workers enough to buy the cars they built, Wal-Mart rose up by paying "its workers so little they had to shop at discount stores like Wal-Mart." ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/11/whos-really-to-blame-for-the-wal-mart-strikes-the-american-consumer/265542/
November 23, 2012
from truthdig:
Change? Learn? Compromise? Grow? Not These Republicans
Posted on Nov 21, 2012
By Joe Conason
Hearing so much chatter about “change” in the Republican Party, the innocent voter might believe that the Republicans had learned important lessons from their stinging electoral defeat. On closer examination, however, the likelihood of real change appears nil because the party’s leaders and thinkers can cite so many excuses to remain utterly the same.
At the Republican Governors Association conference last week, for instance, the favored explanation for the voting public’s emphatic rejection of Mitt Romney had nothing to do with issues or ideology, but only with more effective Democratic Party organizing and communicating. According to Wade Goodwyn, the National Public Radio reporter who covered the GOP governors’ meeting, their post-election mood was not one of shock, but complacency.
“It was widely agreed that nothing needed to be changed except perhaps the tone,” he found. “For example, the idea that more than 70 percent of Hispanics voted for the president because of Republican positions on illegal immigration was rejected by the Republican governors.”
That would be hard to believe if Goodwyn were not such an excellent and experienced journalist, because it is so stupid, so insulting and makes so little sense. Could it really be true that the nation’s Republican governors—one of whom is quite likely to be the party’s next presidential nominee—are so obtuse and so obstinate that they would reject change even on immigration? ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/change_learn_compromise_grow_not_these_republicans_20121121/?ln
Change? Learn? Compromise? Grow? Not These Republicans
from truthdig:
Change? Learn? Compromise? Grow? Not These Republicans
Posted on Nov 21, 2012
By Joe Conason
Hearing so much chatter about “change” in the Republican Party, the innocent voter might believe that the Republicans had learned important lessons from their stinging electoral defeat. On closer examination, however, the likelihood of real change appears nil because the party’s leaders and thinkers can cite so many excuses to remain utterly the same.
At the Republican Governors Association conference last week, for instance, the favored explanation for the voting public’s emphatic rejection of Mitt Romney had nothing to do with issues or ideology, but only with more effective Democratic Party organizing and communicating. According to Wade Goodwyn, the National Public Radio reporter who covered the GOP governors’ meeting, their post-election mood was not one of shock, but complacency.
“It was widely agreed that nothing needed to be changed except perhaps the tone,” he found. “For example, the idea that more than 70 percent of Hispanics voted for the president because of Republican positions on illegal immigration was rejected by the Republican governors.”
That would be hard to believe if Goodwyn were not such an excellent and experienced journalist, because it is so stupid, so insulting and makes so little sense. Could it really be true that the nation’s Republican governors—one of whom is quite likely to be the party’s next presidential nominee—are so obtuse and so obstinate that they would reject change even on immigration? ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/change_learn_compromise_grow_not_these_republicans_20121121/?ln
November 23, 2012
via truthdig:
What Capitalists Want for Christmas
Posted on Nov 22, 2012
A group of CEOs led by Macy’s Terry Lundgren calling itself the Fix the Debt coalition is hoping for a deficit-busting austerity budget this holiday season—not a program to create American jobs.
Why? Because high unemployment “keeps their workers in check” by driving up competition for jobs, writes Lynn Stuart Parramore at AlterNet. To that end, the executives are holding town halls, lobbying members of Congress and “otherwise throwing their weight around.”
The 1 percenters involved in Fix the Debt include Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; James Gorman, chairman, president and CEO, Morgan Stanley; Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO, General Electric Co.; Brian T. Moynihan, president and CEO, Bank of America Corp.; and Josh Bekenstein, managing director, Bain Capital.
—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/what_capitalists_want_for_christmas_20121122/
Gangster CEO cabal lobbies Congress for austerity
via truthdig:
What Capitalists Want for Christmas
Posted on Nov 22, 2012
A group of CEOs led by Macy’s Terry Lundgren calling itself the Fix the Debt coalition is hoping for a deficit-busting austerity budget this holiday season—not a program to create American jobs.
Why? Because high unemployment “keeps their workers in check” by driving up competition for jobs, writes Lynn Stuart Parramore at AlterNet. To that end, the executives are holding town halls, lobbying members of Congress and “otherwise throwing their weight around.”
The 1 percenters involved in Fix the Debt include Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; James Gorman, chairman, president and CEO, Morgan Stanley; Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO, General Electric Co.; Brian T. Moynihan, president and CEO, Bank of America Corp.; and Josh Bekenstein, managing director, Bain Capital.
—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
Lynn Stuart Parramore at AlterNet:
Lundgren and a coalition of other big-time CEOs are lobbying Congress to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits so that they can enjoy tax breaks. Obviously, Lundgren did not take Econ 101, which would have demonstrated to him that reaching into the pockets of people will leave them without enough dollars to buy your products. It’s very simple, Mr. Lundgren. Your job and your stores are supported by the spending power of the American consumer. Robbing that consumer by hacking away at hard-earned retirements and healthcare is not going to help your bottom line.
Jobs, not austerity, is the path to a healthier economy. Just ask Europe.
Read more
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/what_capitalists_want_for_christmas_20121122/
November 23, 2012
from Grist:
Giving thanks for public transit — weirdos and all
By Isa Hopkins
We said farewell to Nadine on an unassuming August morning, my brother and I, standing there on the curb as the tow truck hauled away the little blue Toyota that had taken me across the country to California in 2005. I thought I’d be sad to give up the car that I’ve driven for the better part of a decade, but the truth was, I was really excited to start taking the bus again.
Most of the press about public transportation focuses on its efficiency, its reduced cost, and its reduced environmental footprint. But that’s not why I love it. Nope, the reason I prefer public transit to just about any other motorized way around is one that, to my mind, doesn’t get nearly enough play: Riding the bus or the train is fun as hell, you guys.
I know, I sound like I’ve lost my mind. Crowded buses and commuter trains are, in the contemporary imagination, the opposite of fun, but if you’re stuck in one you can at least have a friendly chat with a stranger — an impossibility in car traffic. Sure, sometimes you might have to endure the Commute of A Thousand Smells, and every now and then there’s some crazy person ranting at the bus driver about space travel, but hey, God made earbuds for a reason, right?
Although public transportation is more often thought of as a chore than something to be actually enjoyed, my advice to would-be riders is to embrace the experience headphone-free. Block out the rest of the world, and you miss out on the amazing, random — and, yes, fun — experiences that can only be had when you’re forced to endure strangers. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/cities/giving-thanks-for-public-transit-weirdos-and-all/
Giving thanks for public transit — weirdos and all
from Grist:
Giving thanks for public transit — weirdos and all
By Isa Hopkins
We said farewell to Nadine on an unassuming August morning, my brother and I, standing there on the curb as the tow truck hauled away the little blue Toyota that had taken me across the country to California in 2005. I thought I’d be sad to give up the car that I’ve driven for the better part of a decade, but the truth was, I was really excited to start taking the bus again.
Most of the press about public transportation focuses on its efficiency, its reduced cost, and its reduced environmental footprint. But that’s not why I love it. Nope, the reason I prefer public transit to just about any other motorized way around is one that, to my mind, doesn’t get nearly enough play: Riding the bus or the train is fun as hell, you guys.
I know, I sound like I’ve lost my mind. Crowded buses and commuter trains are, in the contemporary imagination, the opposite of fun, but if you’re stuck in one you can at least have a friendly chat with a stranger — an impossibility in car traffic. Sure, sometimes you might have to endure the Commute of A Thousand Smells, and every now and then there’s some crazy person ranting at the bus driver about space travel, but hey, God made earbuds for a reason, right?
Although public transportation is more often thought of as a chore than something to be actually enjoyed, my advice to would-be riders is to embrace the experience headphone-free. Block out the rest of the world, and you miss out on the amazing, random — and, yes, fun — experiences that can only be had when you’re forced to endure strangers. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/cities/giving-thanks-for-public-transit-weirdos-and-all/
November 22, 2012
By MIKE CORDER Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands November 20, 2012 (AP)
Dope-selling coffee shops in Amsterdam won't be shutting their doors to foreign visitors any time soon, a huge relief to the hundreds of thousands of tourists who enjoy a toke or two in the Dutch capital alongside their excursions on the canals and to the museums.
Amsterdam welcomed Tuesday changes in the national government's drug policies as a green light to let tourists keep rolling in to the city's 220 world famous cafes that sell cannabis, marijuana and pre-rolled joints alongside cups of coffee.
On Monday night, Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten sent a letter to Parliament announcing he was scrapping a nationwide rollout of the so-called "weed pass" that was designed to keep non-Dutch residents out of coffee shops.
Beginning earlier this year in the south of the country, locals had to apply for a pass to get into such shops, but non-Dutch residents were barred in an effort to crack down on crime and traffic problems caused by people travelling from neighboring countries like Germany and Belgium to buy produce they could not legally get their hands on back home. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/dutch-govt-scraps-weed-pass-coffee-shops-17765938#.UK6SpWeDnTo
Amsterdam Forever !!!!
By MIKE CORDER Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands November 20, 2012 (AP)
Dope-selling coffee shops in Amsterdam won't be shutting their doors to foreign visitors any time soon, a huge relief to the hundreds of thousands of tourists who enjoy a toke or two in the Dutch capital alongside their excursions on the canals and to the museums.
Amsterdam welcomed Tuesday changes in the national government's drug policies as a green light to let tourists keep rolling in to the city's 220 world famous cafes that sell cannabis, marijuana and pre-rolled joints alongside cups of coffee.
On Monday night, Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten sent a letter to Parliament announcing he was scrapping a nationwide rollout of the so-called "weed pass" that was designed to keep non-Dutch residents out of coffee shops.
Beginning earlier this year in the south of the country, locals had to apply for a pass to get into such shops, but non-Dutch residents were barred in an effort to crack down on crime and traffic problems caused by people travelling from neighboring countries like Germany and Belgium to buy produce they could not legally get their hands on back home. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/dutch-govt-scraps-weed-pass-coffee-shops-17765938#.UK6SpWeDnTo
November 22, 2012
Why You Shouldn’t Shop at Walmart on Friday
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A half century ago America’s largest private-sector employer was General Motors, whose full-time workers earned an average hourly wage of around $50, in today’s dollars, including health and pension benefits.
Today, America’s largest employer is Walmart, whose average employee earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Walmart’s employees work less than 28 hours per week and don’t qualify for benefits.
There are many reasons for the difference – including globalization and technological changes that have shrunk employment in American manufacturing while enlarging it in sectors involving personal services, such as retail.
But one reason, closely related to this seismic shift, is the decline of labor unions in the United States. In the 1950s, over a third of private-sector workers belonged to a union. Today fewer than 7 percent do. As a result, the typical American worker no longer has the bargaining clout to get a sizeable share of corporate profits. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/36219730368
Robert Reich: Why You Shouldn’t Shop at Walmart on Friday
Why You Shouldn’t Shop at Walmart on Friday
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A half century ago America’s largest private-sector employer was General Motors, whose full-time workers earned an average hourly wage of around $50, in today’s dollars, including health and pension benefits.
Today, America’s largest employer is Walmart, whose average employee earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Walmart’s employees work less than 28 hours per week and don’t qualify for benefits.
There are many reasons for the difference – including globalization and technological changes that have shrunk employment in American manufacturing while enlarging it in sectors involving personal services, such as retail.
But one reason, closely related to this seismic shift, is the decline of labor unions in the United States. In the 1950s, over a third of private-sector workers belonged to a union. Today fewer than 7 percent do. As a result, the typical American worker no longer has the bargaining clout to get a sizeable share of corporate profits. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/36219730368
November 22, 2012
from Der Spiegel:
A new trans-Atlantic effort aims to expose alleged harassment and poor working conditions for workers at T-Mobile, the US subsidiary of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. The union-driven campaign plans to expose damning employee reports to politicians and the media.
The conference hotel, located in an area known as Cargo City Süd at the edge of the Frankfurt Airport, was chosen deliberately for the anonymity its meeting rooms offered, allowing the two powerful union representatives who met there to retreat discreetly if necessary. One man, Lothar Schröder, is deputy chair of the supervisory board at Deutsche Telekom AG and national chair of powerful German trade union Ver.di. The other, Larry Cohen, heads the 700,000-member union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
Over the course of two days, these two union representatives worked out a unique new campaign. In the coming weeks, they plan to mobilize employees on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as bringing the United States Congress, German parliament and various ministries into position and providing the media with sensitive information. The target: German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, headquartered in Bonn. The issue: alleged harassment and poor working conditions at the company's subsidiary T-Mobile USA.
For years, union representatives have accused the company of preventing the election of workers' representatives and suppressing any form of employee codetermination. The American subsidiary's management doesn't shrink from "dismissals, defamation and intimidating employees," the unions say. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/union-campaign-takes-on-t-mobile-usa-working-conditions-a-868525.html
Taking On Employee Intimidation at T-Mobile USA
from Der Spiegel:
A new trans-Atlantic effort aims to expose alleged harassment and poor working conditions for workers at T-Mobile, the US subsidiary of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. The union-driven campaign plans to expose damning employee reports to politicians and the media.
The conference hotel, located in an area known as Cargo City Süd at the edge of the Frankfurt Airport, was chosen deliberately for the anonymity its meeting rooms offered, allowing the two powerful union representatives who met there to retreat discreetly if necessary. One man, Lothar Schröder, is deputy chair of the supervisory board at Deutsche Telekom AG and national chair of powerful German trade union Ver.di. The other, Larry Cohen, heads the 700,000-member union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
Over the course of two days, these two union representatives worked out a unique new campaign. In the coming weeks, they plan to mobilize employees on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as bringing the United States Congress, German parliament and various ministries into position and providing the media with sensitive information. The target: German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, headquartered in Bonn. The issue: alleged harassment and poor working conditions at the company's subsidiary T-Mobile USA.
For years, union representatives have accused the company of preventing the election of workers' representatives and suppressing any form of employee codetermination. The American subsidiary's management doesn't shrink from "dismissals, defamation and intimidating employees," the unions say. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/union-campaign-takes-on-t-mobile-usa-working-conditions-a-868525.html
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