Wells Fargo workers in Bethel decide against union vote for now

Five Wells Fargo bank employees in the Western Alaska hub of Bethel decided against voting to unionize this week after filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board indicating they were considering the move.

The decision to withdraw the petition came the day employees at a Wells Fargo bank in New Mexico voted to unionize, the first time in the modern era that workers at a major U.S. bank have done so.

The Bethel employees decided to withdraw their petition late Wednesday, the day before they were scheduled to vote on unionizing.

Walker Sexton, a personal banker at the Bethel branch, previously cited the high cost of living in Bethel — which has pushed him to take a second job — as one of the reasons for the unionizing push.

Matt Rojo, a Wells Fargo spokesperson, said in a statement Thursday that bank executives are “pleased with this development and look forward to continuing to engage with our employees directly.”

Sexton said in an interview Thursday that the branch has contended with several issues “that unionizing could help prevent from happening again,” including short staffing and inadequate pay.

After employees filed the petition in November, Wells Fargo executives began sharing information about the impacts of unionizing that Sexton saw as “blatantly biased,” he said, calling it a “really disappointing tactic.”

Sexton said that “withdrawing is not the same as not wanting to proceed” with unionizing, and that branch workers could still take up a vote on unionizing in six months. “We’re still strong believers that change needs to happen,” he said.

“I don’t think that this is necessarily the end. We just need more time to get everybody on the same page,” said Sexton.

The Bethel effort comes as workers across the country have pushed to unionize, including in Starbucks locations, Apple stores and Amazon warehouses.

Sexton said he is “really proud” of the branch workers in New Mexico who voted to unionize and said he hoped employees at additional bank branches would follow suit.

Already, workers at another Wells Fargo branch in Florida have filed for a unionizing vote with the National Labor Relations Board.

“I’m really excited to see what happens next,” said Sexton.