Fourteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives have thrown their weight behind a petition asking the German government to investigate labor practices of T-Mobile US, a Bellevue-based telecommunications company that is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom (DT).

The German company is partially owned by the German government. Rep. Mark Pocan (Democrat – Wisconsin) is leading the charge asking DT to enforce fair labor practices at all its international locations.

On Dec. 18, members of Congress released a damning open letter for their German counterparts in the Bundestag.

“T-Mobile clearly has significant labor relations problems,” the letter read. “In the United States, when people think of large, non-union companies with poor labor records, Wal-Mart immediately comes to mind. Yet, when controlling for the size of their respective workforces, T-Mobile’s rate of unfair labor practice charges since 2009 is nearly seven times that of Wal-Mart’s. The scope and frequency of the charges have repeatedly garnered the attention of the United States Congress. We believe they warrant the German government’s attention as well.”

T-Mobile did not respond to questions about the claims, but has gone on record with the Reporter before claiming they follow the law with labor relations.