Employees at a Wells Fargo & Co. branch in Albuquerque, N.M., voted to unionize Wednesday, marking the first such vote at a major U.S. bank.
Workers who participated in the election voted 5-3 to join Wells Fargo Workers United, which is part of the Communications Workers of America.
By voting to unionize, Wells Fargo bankers and tellers have WFC
Branch joined a broader labor movement that has emerged at companies like Starbucks Corp. SBUX,
and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN,
as workers seek more control over their work after more than three years of pandemic-related disruptions and rising prices.
The workers first filed a union ballot with the National Labor Relations Board on Nov. 20. The Wall Street Journal said a Wells Fargo branch in Bethel, Alaska, would also hold a union vote on Thursday, and that two branches – in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Atwater, California – have also filed for elections.
“Our victory today is the first of many to come,” Sabrina Perez, a senior premier banker at the branch, said in a statement on the website of the Committee for Better Banks, which was founded by Communication Workers of America. “Despite Wells Fargo’s aggressive efforts to dissuade us, we are lighting the fire and showing our colleagues across the industry that change is not only possible, but within reach.”
Employees across the company are looking for higher wages and better working conditions. They also hope to resist the closure of branches and what they said was “rampant understaffing, low wages and mismanagement.”
The Committee for Better Banks statement noted that employees at smaller banks have also organized. But experts say labor laws still largely favor employers, and the more difficult task of getting a contract in place can take time and be met with delays and delaying tactics.
A representative for the group said they had no information yet on when contract negotiations might begin, and had not heard from the bank. When reached, Wells Fargo said it had no information on when talks might begin.
“We respect our employees’ right to vote for union representation,” Wells Fargo said in a statement. “At the same time, we continue to believe that our employees are best served by working directly with the company and its leadership.”
Shares of Wells Fargo rose 0.9% after business hours on Wednesday after ending the regular trading day 1.5% lower.