Bradenton branch is among five in Florida that are unionized.
By Sera Deniz
Original Air Date: April 18, 2025
Host: Private-sector service workers are joining unions in droves, and that includes—in a historic first—bank tellers. Wells Fargo is the nation’s fourth-largest commercial bank. Five tellers at a Wells Fargo branch in Bradenton who voted to join the union a year ago are now bargaining with their employer. WSLR News intern Sera Deniz tells us how that is going.
Christina Eaton Ronk: We are currently at the bargaining table. As of now, we have 27 branches across the country that have unionized. Five of those are in the state of Florida. This is a clear signal that bank workers are standing up for better conditions and a stronger voice on the job.
Sera Deniz: Christina Eaton Ronk is an organizer with the AFL-CIO union and is helping five Bradenton bank tellers distributing flyers. Flyer distribution in Bradenton is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
On Thursday, union organizers were distributing the flyers at the Bradenton branch office on West Manatee Avenue. A year ago, the five branch employees voted 4-1 to be represented by Wells Fargo Workers United, a union affiliated with the Communications Workers of America.
CER: The flyer distribution is a part of a broader effort to raise awareness and build solidarity among both workers and the community.
SD: The employees organizing aren’t just thinking about today.
CER: Bank employees are organizing because they want a seat at the table when it comes to decisions that impact their jobs, their livelihoods, and the customers they serve every day. They’re demanding fair wages, job security, better staffing and respect.
SD: And those demands are being heard at the bargaining table.
CER: Contract negotiations are ongoing. So far we’ve had several rounds of bargaining at the first branch that unionized in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Getting ready for a union vote a year ago: Wells Fargo employees at the Manatee Avenue West branch in Bradenton.
SD: With 27 branches already unionized, the goal is even bigger.
CER: Their motto is “One union, one contract.” They’re going for a national contract—that’s the ultimate goal of the Wells Fargo workers.
SD: But progress doesn’t come without resistance.
CER: Wells Fargo has launched a very systematic anti-union campaign. They’ve hired one of the number one union busting attorneys in the country, Littler Mendelson. Wells Fargo is absolutely putting on a sophisticated misinformation campaign, telling the employees the opposite of what a union is. They’re trying to third-party the union. But the workers are prevailing through that misinformation and reaching out and getting the correct information, uniting together in their struggles, and overcoming any roadblocks.
SD: Momentum is growing—and not just in Florida.
CER: There is a total of 4,000 branches across the country. We work with dozens of leads every day from Wells Fargo workers at non-union branches as well as Wells Fargo workers at large office locations that are wanting to get information on unionizing their locations.
SD: The movement is spreading from branch to branch, fueled by solidarity support from customers, too.
CER: We had a national day of action and solidarity across the 27 union branches. We were flyering customers to make customers aware, “Hey, you bank at a union branch. How awesome is that?” and informing of what the workers are fighting for at the table and asking the customers to support the workers at the bank they branch at. So far, we’ve had tremendous, great reaction of the customers—support for the workers and excitement that, “Hey, wow, I bank at a union branch.”
SD: This organizing effort could have ripple effects far beyond banking.
CER: If Wells Fargo employees—part of a large national corporation—can organize, it sets a precedent and gives confidence to other workers in retail, hospitality, health care and finance to do the same.
SD: From fighting unethical sales pressure to demanding dignity at work, this campaign is as much about the past as it is about the future.
CER: I don’t know if you know about the fake account scandal that happened back in 2016, but this is another thing that, going to the bargaining table and fighting for a contract, that’s one of the things that they’re wanting to prevent from happening again: sales pressure that forces the employees to do unethical things to meet the goals.
SD: For WSLR, this has been Sera Deniz.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.