Sen. Warren Blasts Fed Reserve for Lifting WF Asset Cap

[Watch] Senator Warren Blasts Fed Reserve for prematurely lifting Wells Fargo's Asset Cap cites sales pressure concerns raised by workers!

Sen. Warren and Rep. Waters call Fed move to lift Wells Fargo asset cap "Embarrassing and Unwarranted"

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters, prominent Democrats who sit on influential congressional finance committees, called on the Federal Reserve to walk back the decision it made last week to lift the sweeping growth restriction it placed on Wells Fargo seven years ago.

The lawmakers criticized the Fed for a lack of specificity in its public notice about why removing a longstanding limit on the amount of assets the bank of assets can hold was warranted, and about what Wells had done to fix its compliance and risk-management programs.

“We write to urge you to immediately reverse yesterday’s embarrassing and unwarranted decision by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to remove Wells Fargo’s $1.95 trillion asset cap, which has been in place since 2018. The Fed put the growth cap in place in response to a series of outrageous scandals that affected millions of customers, and the Fed’s ill-informed elimination of the cap –if not reversed – will have a profound impact on its credibility as an impartial, consistent, and effective bank regulator and steward of the banking and financial system,” Warren and Waters wrote in a Wednesday letter to central bank officials including Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson.

Sen. Warren and Rep. Waters cited our recently released report, "Sales Pressure Returns to Wells Fargo" as evidence that the bank has not sufficiently reformed its sales practices to protect workers and customers from harm.

Sign our letter to Federal Reserve Board members demanding they reinstate Wells Fargo's asset cap today to make sure the bank doesn't keep backsliding to its scandalous ways!

Sign Letter to Federal Reserve

Staff Cuts and Sales Pressure Are Hurting Wells Workers & Customers

Are you feeling the stress from staff cuts and sales pressure returning? You're not alone.

"The reduction in internal controls (understaffing, under training of the support staff, lack of written policies, lack of a central planning unit to coordinate company policy implementation, etc.) is creating a high stress environment and an opportunity for another scandal." -- Call Center Financial Advisor in Salt Lake City, Utah

Meanwhile, Charlie Scharf is drinking champagne at his office to celebrate getting the asset cap lifted while gutting staff in branches and many departments. (See Wall Street Journal story)

Please fill out our survey to help us expose how wrong the Federal Reserve was to lift Wells Fargo's asset cap without first protecting workers!

Take Our Survey

NEW: Tech Workers Justice Caucus gives boost to organizing efforts

We're forming a Tech Workers Justice Caucus to create space for tech and operations employees to come together and fight for justice.

Wells Fargo relies on thousands of tech and operations workers to make the mega bank operate and function efficiently without glitches or system failures, protect customers' financial information, prevent fraud and theft, and comply with a long list of regulations.

So why is the bank laying people off and shipping jobs overseas, while setting unrealistic deadlines for projects without consulting the people who are actually doing the work. All this causes are more errors that we have to go back to clean up and fix, creating more work and delays. Adding insult to injury, arbitrary Return To Office mandates adds commuting time so we can be on zoom calls with our team in the office instead of at home. All this add up to heavier work loads, longer hours and very little if any reward for our hard work and dedication to making

Please take our poll, join our caucus and talk to a coworker you trust about getting involved.

Take Our Poll

Question of the Week:

Question: What recourse do I have if I feel like I'm being retaliated against by my managers?

Answer: The best response is to start organizing a union with your coworkers, because once you begin advocating with and on behalf of your coworkers to improve your pay, benefits and working conditions (like better staffing and demanding more job security) then you become a protected class under the National Labor Relations Act giving you legal standing to potentially file Unfair Labor Practice charges against the bank.

When you talk to your coworkers about how you can work together to improve policies that affect your working condictions, this is called "concerted activity" and it is legally protected under the NLRA. As part of a settlement, Wells Fargo recently signed a Notice to Employees in its Havertown, Pennsylvania Branch affirming that Wells Fargo will not interfere with your right to form a union.

Check out our handy FAQ on our website to get more details  (https://betterbanks.org/organize/questions) and to learn more about your rights, email us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to provide you with more information.

We will bring you the Top #WFunion updates each week. If you have additional questions or ideas for future newsletter stories, please email us at [email protected]. 

Are you ready to stand with us and make positive change at Wells Fargo?  Email us at [email protected] today!