Wells Fargo has made history by becoming the first major lender in the United States to have a unionized workforce as a result of the unionization drive that was recently implemented at the Albuquerque branch in New Mexico.
Significant Win
Wells Fargo employees in Albuquerque voted in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, December 20, to become members of the Communications Workers of America's Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU) by a margin of 5 to 3, as reported by Bloomberg.
According to Sabrina Perez, a senior premier banker at Wells Fargo's Albuquerque office, the vote shows that financial services personnel recognize the need to speak together to make changes to the organization at which they work.
Thanks to the decision, the San Francisco-based lender is now the first major US bank to form a union, which is a significant victory for unionization initiatives in an otherwise resistant sector.
"We respect our employees' rights to vote for union representation. At the same time, we continue to believe our employees are best served by working directly with the company and its leadership," said Wells Fargo in an email response sent to Reuters.
Tense confrontations between business giants and their workers have resulted from recent unionization attempts. Unions like the United Auto Workers (UAW) have been able to increase their support via striking lucrative agreements that have resulted in record pay raises for workers.
The bank has already taken several steps to address some of the issues voiced by its employees before the vote, including increasing median base pay and enhancing compensation and perks for lower-paid personnel.
But when asked whether Wells Fargo will stay neutral throughout the unionization push, CEO Charlie Scharf said earlier this month that the firm would use its prerogative to talk with workers to make sure they make a well-informed decision.
Per two reports, union elections are anticipated to take place in January 2024 and include employees from both the Daytona Beach branch in Florida and the Atwater branch in California.
People walk past a Wells Fargo Bank on June 10, 2022, in New York City.
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Postponed Elections
Meanwhile, employees at the bank's Bethel, Alaska branch were not all on board with the unionization drive. The elections at the said branch have been postponed, which was originally scheduled for Thursday, December 21.
In a report by CNBC, chief communications officer Amy Bonitatibus of Wells Fargo expressed her company's pleasure with this move and vowed to respect workers' ability to choose whether or not they want a union representation.
Without adding further information, personal banker Walker Sexton at the Bethel branch stated, "Although those of us at the Bethel branch have decided to withdraw our petition and hold on moving forward with a union election at this time, our values have not changed."
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