Wells Fargo union organizers eye first win at nonbranch unit

Bloomberg News

The labor union that's organizing workers at Wells Fargo is expressing confidence about the outcome of a contested recent vote that, if approved, would mark the first time nonbranch employees of the bank have agreed to unionize.

The results have been delayed amid a challenge by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. The bank is contesting ballots cast by eight of its former employees, who were laid off just nine days before voting began on whether to unionize.

But the Communications Workers of America said Friday that it has dropped its objection to Wells Fargo's challenge, and that even after discarding the eight contested votes, the pro-union side prevailed by a 21-16 margin. The results have yet to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board.

"Regardless of these stipulated ballots, the conduct management intake group won their union election," a union spokesman said in an email.

If the group decides to establish a union, the vote will represent a landmark in the effort to organize workers at the nation's fourth largest bank by asset size, expanding the union beyond branch workers.

Over the last year, workers at 23 Wells Fargo branches have voted to establish a union, according to labor organizers.

"We respect our employees' rights to vote for or against union representation, and we will honor the outcome of any certified election," a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in a written statement.

The still-pending votes were cast by members of the bank's conduct management intake team, who are spread out across the country, and are responsible for reviewing customer and employee complaints. They voted earlier this fall, shortly after 11 of the group's roughly four dozen employees were laid off, according to union organizers.

After the layoffs, the organizing group Wells Fargo Workers United accused the bank of engaging in unfair labor practices in a charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Wells disputes the allegation. Bloomberg News was first to report on the conduct management intake team's unionization efforts, the layoffs and the unfair labor practice charge.

The bank's spokesperson said the layoffs were not connected with union organizing efforts.

"We regularly review and adjust staffing levels to align with market conditions and the needs of our businesses. The decision was made earlier this year and has nothing to do with the union," the spokesperson said.

The employees whose unit voted to unionize act as gatekeepers for the bank's review of customer and employee complaints — an important role at a bank facing a high degree of regulatory scrutiny in the wake of various scandals.

Kieran Cuadras, who was an employee in the unit until she was laid off shortly before the union vote, said in a recent interview that she believes she and others were let go in retaliation for their union organizing efforts. She said that six of the 11 workers who were laid off were vocal union supporters.

"I think it was a way to thwart us from actually organizing," said Cuadras, who lives near Sacramento, California.

Eden Davis, an Arizona-based member of the conduct management intake team who is also a union supporter, was not laid off. But she shares her former co-worker's opinion about the bank's motive for the job cuts, saying that a majority of the employees who lost their jobs were outspoken advocates for unionization.

"So it really felt like they were getting rid of those people, and sprinkling in a few others for plausible deniability," Davis said in an interview. "These are people who have dedicated years, missing out on time with their kids, for a company that discarded them like trash."

The conduct management intake employees who want a union have cited multiple reasons, including what they've described as "staffing issues, a lack of transparency in enterprise policies, inconsistent training and job security concerns."

"We have persevered, but alarmingly, in the last few months those challenges have become near insurmountable," a group of 27 workers from the intake unit wrote in a Sept. 5 letter to Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf.

"Intake has faced additional hurdles stemming from miscommunications about location strategy, misleading information about enterprise initiatives and growth, constant policy changes and the revocation of work from home accommodations against the recommendations of employees' physicians," the employees wrote.

Cuadras pointed more specifically to offshoring as one of the motivations for the unionization push, saying that earlier this year the $1.9 trillion-asset bank moved some of the work previously done by members of her team to newly hired workers in India.

In an Oct. 3 email to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, Cuadras and 18 other members of her unit wrote that they routinely review customer allegations of improper denials of mortgage modifications, surprise overdraft fees, unlawful repossession of vehicles and more.

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"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 workers wrote.

A source familiar with the bank's position said that some existing work has been moved to global sites, which are staffed by Wells Fargo employees, and that those workers are trained and equipped to provide customer care, technology, analytics and back-office services.

This source added that the bank has "effective controls" in place to confirm that "sensitive information" is handled properly and compliantly.

The unionization push has put Wells Fargo in a position that's largely unfamiliar to U.S. banks — engaging in brass-tacks negotiations with labor organizers.

Members of the bank's intake team wrapped up voting on whether to form a union on Nov. 1, and the NLRB's certification of the results has been delayed by Wells Fargo's ballot challenge. The bank's position is that on the date they cast their ballots, the eight laid-off workers were no longer performing any bargaining unit work and had no expectation of employment in those roles in the near future.

NLRB case law and precedents support the position that the ballots should not be counted on that basis, the bank maintains.

But the union organizers note that after they dropped their objection to Wells Fargo's challenge of the eight ballots, the bank refused to sign a stipulation agreement to resolve those challenged ballots.

A union spokesperson said that after Wells refused to sign the agreement, the NLRB rewrote it so that only the union's signature is required. "Now we are just waiting for the NLRB Regional Director to sign it and issue the final tally sheet," the union spokesperson said in an email.

Nick Weiner, who is organizing Wells Fargo workers for the Committee for Better Banks, which was founded by the Communications Workers of America, said that Wells has no basis for refusing to sign the agreement. The agreement stipulates that the challenged ballots won't be counted, which is what the bank wanted, Weiner said.

"Contrary to their previous public statements, these actions reveal Wells Fargo's true colors, that Charlie Scharf is not respecting the legal right of Wells Fargo employees to basic human rights: freedom of association and collective bargaining," Weiner said in a written statement. "It's been over one month and Wells Fargo is still trying to prevent the NLRB from certifying the results of this election."

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Separately, Wells recently started contract talks with branch employees in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who earlier voted to unionize.

The terms of a contract that gets hammered out in Albuquerque could offer a blueprint for other branches that have voted to unionize. Or it might not, especially if Wells branch workers in different parts of the country diverge in their priorities. The Wells Fargo branch where workers most recently voted in favor of a union is located in Toms River, New Jersey.

Weiner said in a recent interview that Wells Fargo workers are united to negotiate a contract that covers branch employees regardless of where they're based. "And that's obviously a bone of contention with the company," he said.

The Wells Fargo spokesperson said the bank is committed to bargaining in good faith with employees at the New Mexico branch.

"Wells Fargo is proud of the competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and attractive career development opportunities we provide our employees. Our goal is to work together toward a fair contract for all involved stakeholders," the spokesperson said in a written statement.

The union organizing effort at Wells Fargo is the first such push in recent decades at a large U.S. bank.

Polo Rocha contributed to this article.