Wells Fargo employees in New Mexico vote to join union in historic first at a big bank

Wells Fargo employees at an Albuquerque, NM, branch voted to join a union on Wednesday, opening up a new frontier in the labor campaign against corporate America.

Wells Fargo employees voted 5 to 3 in favor of joining the Communications Workers of America’s Wells Fargo Workers United, the union said.

The vote stands “as a testament to workers in the financial services industry who know we need a collective voice to improve the industry we are integral to,” said Sabrina Perez, a Senior Premier Banker at Wells Fargo’s Albuquerque branch.

“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,” Wells Fargo said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The landmark vote makes the San Francisco-based lender the first big US bank with a union, marking a rare win for such efforts in an industry that has largely been immune to them.

Such campaigns have led to tense showdowns between employees and corporate behemoths recently. Lucrative deals clinched by unions like the United Auto Workers, which secured record pay hikes for employees, has bolstered support for unionization.

In the lead-up to the vote, the bank had highlighted several measures it had taken to address some of the concerns raised by its employees, such as improving compensation and benefits for lower-paid workers and bumping up median base salaries.

But at a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee earlier this month, CEO Charlie Scharf, when asked if the bank would remain neutral during the unionization effort, said Wells Fargo would exercise its right “to speak with (the employees) to make sure they make an informed decision.”

Workers at the bank’s branch in Bethel, Alaska are set to vote on the unionization campaign on Thursday. Employees at the Daytona Beach, Florida branch have also filed for union elections.

The results of the vote were first reported by Bloomberg News.