Wells Fargo touts union leaving NC + other branches, disputes intimidation claim
Two years ago, a labor union trying to organize Wells Fargo workers made inroads in North Carolina, home to the bank’s largest employment hub in Charlotte. But that effort just faced a significant setback.
After becoming the Carolinas’ first and only Wells Fargo location to join a union in April 2024, workers in an Apex branch near Raleigh left Wells Fargo Workers United after a 5–2 vote in March. Those results were certified by the National Labor Relations Board March 24.
A few other Wells Fargo branches around the country also moved to decertify the union, according to media accounts and worker organizations. WFWU is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, a longtime labor-union powerhouse, and has pushed for higher pay and improvements in staffing levels and benefits.
Wells Fargo had touted to The Charlotte Observer the workers’ move to leave the union.
“We’re pleased our employees are able to exercise their voice regarding union representation,” the bank said in a statement. “We are committed to maintaining a culture where all employees continue to feel supported, valued and heard.”
The San Francisco-based bank employs about 27,000 people in the Charlotte region.
WFWU-CWA member and bargaining committee chair Sabrina Perez criticized Wells Fargo’s approach to unions.
“Assertions that they are respecting their workers’ rights, or that they are respecting their opinions and their decisions on whether to organize, are kind of disingenuous,” she said.
There are 26 unionized Wells Fargo locations nationwide, or roughly 200 union members out of 205,000 workers worldwide — about 0.1% of the bank’s workforce. A pair of branches, the one in Apex and one in Florida, voted to decertify in March.
In Wyoming, a vote is pending after a petition for decertification was filed last month.
Perez said she sees decertification at branches not as a loss of worker interest but the result of a campaign by Wells Fargo and external consultants.
“I think the decertifications are a reflection of Wells Fargo’s persistent and aggressive campaign to intimidate workers and to try to convince them to work against their own best interests,” Perez said.
She said the bank has spent a lot of time delaying a fair first contract, which establishes workplace rights, fair wages, benefit, and job security following a union election. But union-busting is mainly the reason people are stepping away, Perez claimed.
Wells Fargo said it disagreed with claims it intimidated employees, and respects their right to choose whether to be represented by a union.
The bank noted that contract negotiations are ongoing at 22 unionized branches. Since contract talks began in November 2024, Wells Fargo said, its has spent more than 140 days at the negotiating table with union representatives at various branches.
Workers back away from Wells Fargo union
Like North Carolina, Florida is a right-to-work state. This means union officials cannot impose contract provisions that require workers to pay money to the union as a condition of getting or keeping a job, according to the foundation.
In right-to-work states, workers cannot be required to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation said it is assisting Wells Fargo branches by providing free legal aid to workers looking to remove the union. Foundation President Mark Mix said the CWA campaign started with great fanfare, but workers felt they would be better off without the union.
Workers at the Lakewood Plaza branch in Spring Hill, Florida, also left the union in March.
Spring Hill employee Virginia Fenton said there was a disconnect between the union’s initial pitch and the reality of the last two years, the Tampa Free Press reported. “Since the union came into our branch back in 2024, we’ve come to see how much they overpromised and never delivered,” Fenton stated. “We are sure that we will manage better without them.”
Employees at the Wells Fargo branch in Casper, Wyoming, also filed a petition last week to decertify the union.
“CWA union officials have not made our workplace better,” Casper worker Megan Wright said in a news release from the legal defense foundation.
The bank is not affiliated with the foundation and consultants are not used for labor matters regarding employees, according to Wells Fargo. Branch managers or internal human resources/labor relations employees handle those conversations.
Managers are trained to follow labor laws, and this includes refraining from encouraging employee efforts to decertify a union, the bank added.
What’s next for Wells Fargo unionizing efforts?
The CWA union and Wells Fargo workers first began organizing efforts in 2021.
The Committee for Better Banks, which is helping organize union efforts alongside the CWA, hopes the movement will one day expand to Charlotte as the union pushes for higher pay, staffing levels and benefits.
“When (employees) don’t have a union, they’re left to go to their manager or HR alone, and they have no power to get heard,” CBB Organizing Director Nick Weiner told The Charlotte Observer in 2024. “When they collectively come together, they’re going to have some power.”
During that time, the union said there was a “fear mentality” when it came to speaking up at Wells Fargo, especially at call centers. Wells Fargo’s Information Center complex off W.T. Harris Boulevard in northeast Charlotte has more than 10,000 workers.
Now, Perez said branches are leaving the union because of high turnover in retail banking, which dilutes the original union-supporting staff and allows the company to re-educate new hires with anti-union talking points.
But despite the challenges, she remains optimistic: “I think it’s not going to be far off to see Charlotte as a hotbed for organizing,” Perez said.
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This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Wells Fargo touts union leaving NC + other branches, disputes intimidation claim."
