Employees in Wells Fargo’s conduct management intake department started voting Thursday on whether to join the Communications Workers of America’s Wells Fargo Workers United, the first-ever union at a major US bank.
A win for union backers would mark the first time that Wells Fargo workers beyond a local branch have voted to organize, a significant step in a union drive that has now seen more than 20 branches around the country vote to join.
But workers say Wells Fargo and their managers have engaged in an aggressive, and potentially illegal, intimidation campaign in the run-up to the latest vote. They allege the bank fired 11 workers in the proposed 48-member bargaining unit, including six who signed a Sept. 5 letter announcing their intent to join the union.
“If that’s not an example of how they’re trying to make an example out of us to instill fear in us, I don’t know what is,” Kieran Cuadras, a California-based investigator in the department who was laid off Oct. 1, told Bloomberg Law.
Workers filed an unfair labor practice claim against Wells Fargo at the National Labor Relations Board later that same day.
That the cuts happened soon after the unit notified Wells Fargo about its intent to unionize is a coincidence, the bank says.
“We regularly review and adjust staffing levels to align with market conditions and the needs of our businesses,” a spokesperson for the bank said in an email. “This decision was made earlier this year and has nothing to do with the union.”
The vote at the intake department will follow a hybrid in-person, mail-in process, since around half of the potential members work remotely. Mail-in votes are due on Oct. 31 and results are expected to be released the following day.
The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which is affiliated with the CWA, represents employees of Bloomberg Law.
Complaint Intake
Cuadras, 42, began working as a Wells Fargo teller outside of Sacramento in 2002, eventually working her way up to branch manager before moving over to the conduct management intake department in 2018.
Among other things, the unit was responsible for handling reports that Wells Fargo retail employees created fake accounts to hit astronomical sales targets, leading to a wave of penalties from US regulators.
In her new role, Cuadras took in complaints about misconduct from both Wells Fargo customers and fellow employees, ensuring all details were correct before sending the complaint to an investigator at the bank.
The investigator would then review to determine whether the complaint was valid and should be escalated or closed.
Cuadras, who is married with two children aged 10 and 11 and cares for her disabled mother, was ultimately promoted to investigator two years before she was fired.
Even before her firing, Cuadras says Wells Fargo engaged in aggressive anti-union tactics and made vague statements about the workers’ future.
The bank last year announced a strategy of building up “growth hubs” around the country that would consolidate the workforce into a few locations rather than spreading them nationwide.
But the intake department wasn’t told how that strategy would affect them until September, and even then the discussions were vague, Cuadras said.
Prior to September, workers in the unit were allowed to apply for any job they wanted and work remotely, Cuadras said. That policy abruptly changed and employees were told they would have to apply for work, and work in-office, in a growth hub location such as Minnesota or Arizona, she added.
“Over the last year, we saw a lot of issues with transparency,” Cuadras said.
Workers in existing growth hub locations were told they wouldn’t be laid off. But several employees in the proposed bargaining unit working in a hub location were among the 11 fired on Oct. 1, according to Nick Weiner, the organizing director for the Committee for Better Banks, a CWA affiliate aiding the union drive.
“The fact of the matter is they tried to make the workers feel afraid for their jobs, that people were going to be laid off,” he said. “Then they laid people off right before the vote.”
The union contends that all of those workplace changes should’ve been negotiated once employees notified Wells Fargo of their intent to organize.
In the Works
The cuts to the intake department were part of a broader review of the bank’s operations and staffing aimed at increasing efficiency, said sources at Wells Fargo who asked to remain anonymous to discuss personnel matters.
An internal review found that many complaints routed through the unit were better placed elsewhere, and a decision was made in May to cut back on staff. Other parts of the bank, including managers, were also subject to layoffs, the bank sources said.
The bank gave affected workers 60 days notice, the opportunity to apply for other jobs at Wells Fargo, or, alternatively, severance packages.
Wells Fargo disputes the other allegations regarding workplace changes and says it will defend itself in the NLRB process.
“We respect our employees’ rights to vote for or against union representation and appreciate their careful consideration of this decision,” Wells Fargo said in its statement. “We continue to believe our employees are best served by working directly with the Company and its leadership.”
The union has filed 20 unfair labor practice claims against Wells Fargo since January 2022 and 14 of those remain open, according to a review of the NLRB database by Bloomberg Law.
Wells Fargo management also made clear that much of the complaint intake would be moved to India, Cuadras added.
Members of the proposed bargaining unit sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra on Oct. 3 warning that moving the intake operations overseas could pose a risk for Wells Fargo customers.
“Elimination of our positions, or slashing the positions in our department to such low levels that it will be impossible for us to effectively do our jobs, could make it extremely difficult to properly handle these complaints,” the letter said. “We also worry about the adverse consequences that would result from these actions.”
Wells Fargo says it has appropriate protections in place to protect customers’ personal and financial information.
The CFPB declined to comment on the letter or any specific bank.
“When banks have pressure-cooker work environments that create the conditions for fake accounts and fraud, regulators are required to increase their scrutiny,” Chopra said in a statement. “When employees are mistreated, that is often correlated with misconduct against consumers.”
Union Progress
The latest drama in the Wells Fargo union effort comes as the drive to organize branches picks up steam. Branches in Casper, Wyo., and Anniston, Ala., were the latest to vote to join the union on Sept. 26 and Oct. 9, respectively.
The two latest wins bring the total number of unionized Wells Fargo branches to 21 around the country since the first one in Albuquerque, N.M., voted to join last December. Wells Fargo has more than 4,300 branches nationwide, according to its 2023 annual report.
Although most union votes have been successful, the union has lost two votes and tied one more. More branches are expected to file for union recognition or a vote in the coming weeks.
The actions alleged by the intake department have energized the union effort in that bargaining unit, Cuadras said.
“It’s ignited their desire to vote yes,” she said.
Meanwhile, the union and branch workers in Albuquerque are scheduled to begin bargaining for their first contract in November.
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
