Led by SEIU, Union Coalition Tries to Unionize Heart of U.S. Economy

It’s been widely reported that ​“the Great Recession” was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis, which in turn was triggered by banks’ risky lending practices. Less noted has been the way many major banks managed to originate those bad loans: They paid employees in part on a commission basis.

But what if front-office bank workers weren’t paid on a commission basis, and didn’t feel so pressured to peddle faulty financial products? If they were protected by a union contract, could banks’ risky profit schemes be averted, and the economy protected from another meltdown? The questions can’t be answered in the United States, because the country’s financial sector is almost completely unorganized: just 1 percent of all bank workers here are union members.

A brand-new organizing campaign by an unusual international coalition of labor union — the Service Employees Intenational Union, Communication Workers of America and the Brazilian Bank Workers Union — aims to change that. In an exclusive feature posted to InThe​se​Times​.com Thursday July 30, Mike Elk reports on the new campaign, and its nascent attempts to unionize workers at Sovereign Bank in Boston. Last year the bank was purchased by Grupo Santander, the Spain-based banking giant, whose branches outside the U.S. are on average 75-percent unionized.

If Santander employees are heavily unionized overseas, and the company’s profits are so robust (it’s the world’s fourth largest bank by profits), then why shouldn’t American workers also join a union? Check out ​“Too Big Not to Organize” now.