Wells Fargo allegedly violated the National Labor Relations Act by secretly recording union negotiations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to representatives from Wells Fargo Workers United-Communication Workers of America.
WFWU-CWA filed an unfair labor practice charge against the bank Friday, roughly six weeks after a July 18 bargaining meeting during which the group alleges the bank “surreptitiously used virtual meeting software with recording capabilities during in person bargaining,” which violates the NLRA according to a recent memo by National Labor Relations Board Acting General Counsel William Cowen.
During the meeting, WFWU members said a voice determined to be that of Stan Sherrill, Wells Fargo’s head of labor relations, transmitted from the laptop of a Littler Mendelson attorney representing the bank. Workers told American Banker it was a moment in which bank representatives looked as if they’d gotten their “hand caught in the cookie jar.”
“To secretly have an executive like Stan Sherrill listening in on contract negotiations clearly shows that Wells Fargo management think that they’re above labor law — there’s no telling how many sessions could have been discussed behind closed doors, or recorded without our knowledge or consent," Nick Weiner, organizing director at the Committee for Better Banks, said in a prepared statement, adding that WFWU members have been prohibited from attending negotiations virtually.
Last month, workers alleged Sherrill had been visiting unionized branches to “interrogate” workers and coercing them to decertify their union. The bank denied such claims.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson called the July 18 incident a “simple mistake.”
“As we shared with the union at the time, this was a simple mistake — a laptop left connected to an internal meeting regarding the ongoing negotiations,” the spokesperson said via email. “The caller was briefly a part of the online meeting, unaware that in-person negotiations were underway, and the online meeting was promptly disconnected once the error was recognized.”
The spokesperson added that the bank’s goal is “fair contracts for all involved.”
