Call Center Outsourcing by Wells Fargo Exposed

As shareholders of the banking firm Wells Fargo met in Des Moines, Iowa on April 24th, over a dozen labor and fair trade advocates held an informational picket outside a Wells Fargo branch in Seattle to demand the company stop outsourcing call center jobs.  It was one of many protest events held across the country.

“Wells Fargo is no friend of the working family,” said Michael Schendel, president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 37083.  “They are outsourcing call center jobs.  Last year they closed a call center in Vancouver, Washington — taking good-paying jobs to the Philippines, where they pay pennies on the dollar.”

The 70 layoffs at the Vancouver call center are part of a national trend. Wells Fargo eliminated roughly 700 call center jobs across the United States in 2017, and even greater numbers in 2015.  The company’s CEO Tim Sloan admitted before the Senate Banking Committee that, while cutting jobs in the United States, Wells Fargo was adding call center jobs overseas.

Picketers in Seattle handed out leaflets to hundreds of passerby, detailing how Wells Fargo is currently reaping the benefits from the 2017 tax bill that cuts taxes for corporations earning profits overseas, giving them incentive to outsource even more jobs.

According to the leaflet distributed, Wells Fargo is set to make $3.7 billion under the GOP tax bill.

“We need trade policies that protect jobs at home, protect human rights abroad and that improve wages and quality of life for working people globally,” said the Washington Fair Trade Coalition’s Hillary Haden.  “The Republican tax bill makes it more affordable than ever for big corporations to outsource jobs in Washington and across the nation.  We need to hold elected officials accountable, and demand policies that put people and the planet ahead of corporate greed.”