Lessons from Kier Cuadras of Wells Fargo Workers United

The usual kind of union – what everyone thinks of typically – involves a group of similarly situated workers joining together to win a union election and force the company to bargain collectively. The win comes with many extra legal protections for workers, and it’s the kind we ultimately aspire to.

It’s also the most difficult to achieve.

Kier Cuadras, of Wells Fargo Workers United, did it in record time with her department of 42 employees.

Here is how she did it:

• Start with a small group.
• Build trust and solidarity among coworkers first.
• Talk outside of work with colleagues to gauge their sentiment.
• Introduce yesses to yesses, maybes to maybes, to build solidarity.
• Periodic status updates among eligible workers helped move the needle: Carol trusts Betty’s vote, for example.
• Expand gradually, only at the speed of trust.
• Keep management in the dark about the process.
• Frame conversations around shared experiences and workplace concerns.
• Help coworkers to reassure each other rather than being a single source of hope.
• Understand and stay within the legal bounds of protected concerted activity.
• Push back against illegal management activity. Managers may not *SPIT: Surveil, Promise, Interfere, or Threaten with respect to unionizing activity or outcomes – but they may not know this.
• Make it clear that workers are the union, not some imagined third-party out to further exploit us.
• Reframe the risks to increase confidence: The status quo is the real hazard. Would they fire the whole department?
• Message themes of fairness, shared struggles, and what employees deserve, not merely what management offers.
• Highlight the power of collective action, even when numbers start small. Every social movement began with a small group.

Key Ideas:

• Build trust before going public.
• Frame issues as shared (not individual) and focus on mutual concerns.
• Use natural workplace conversations (e.g. breaks, lunch, text conversations) to test the waters and build confidence.
• Encourage member initiative / lead from where you are: We don’t need experts; we need the motivated and willing.
• It’s all about connecting with co-workers.
• There are many levels of commitment. Someone might not be ready to vote, but they’ll join the mailing list.

JPMC-specific points:

• Many of our teams are scattered across the globe. Formal unions work within countries. If you’re in the USA, you need only connect with others in the USA.
• Many teams have good work-related reason to have a way to reach colleagues outside of work, E.G. a group chat for “there’s a production issue; can someone from North America please log in?”
• The right size of union varies. Often, your boss’s boss commands a suitable “department”.
• All communications on company-owned system are monitored for unusual statistics and probably also keyword alarms. Therefore, make sure there is plausible cover for anything you might do or say on MS-Teams, e-mail, zoom, etc. in support of organizing. You can arrange to meet (e.g. for lunch or coffee) but don’t mention the U-word or specific grievances where WADU can log it.