A long-standing dispute between T-Mobile and an communication workers union came to an end Wednesday, with the wireless company on the losing side.

CNET reports that an administrative judge for the National Labor Relations Board ruled that T-Mobile violated federal labor laws by illegally restricting employees from discussing workplace issues and discouraging them from joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

The ruling comes after CWA took issue with T-Mobile’s email policy and confidentiality agreement which prevents workers from talking with one another and the media.

NLRB administrative judge Christine Dibble found that those policies were illegal and ordered T-Mobile to post a notice to staff affirming their rights to form or join a union.

According to CNET, CWA has lobbied for T-Mobile employees to join the union, which already counts workers from Verizon and AT&T as members.

“This decision exposes the deliberate campaign by T-Mobile US management to break the law systematically and on a nationwide scale, blocking workers from exercising their right to organize and bargain collectively,” Larry Cohen, president of the CWA, tells CNET in a statement.

For its part, T-Mobile seemed rather unfazed by the decision, calling it a technical issue.

“This is simply a ruling about a technical issue in the law that relates to policies that are common to companies across the country,” a T-Mobile spokesperson tells CNET. “There are no allegations that any employee has been impacted by these policies.”

T-Mobile violated US labor laws, agency judge rules [CNET]

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