Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Barry Kade, who lives in Montgomery.
About a year and a half ago I opened an account at Vermont Federal Credit Union. I did so because they were offering a very good interest rate on their Rewards checking account and because I support the idea of banking at a credit union, which is a member-owned and -controlled institution.
Last July, at the initiative of the Occupy Wall Street movement, there was a “bank transfer day,” where perhaps millions of us moved funds from the bailout banks to local credit unions. I moved most of the money that I had at Ally to VFCU, all in the naive belief that this was a membership-owned and -controlled institution.
Last December I met up with Matt Cropp, perhaps Vermont’s leading credit union geek. Matt has a strong belief in membership control and was organizing to wrestle control of the VFCU from the self-perpetuating board of directors and make it run more like a cooperative.
To that end, he and three others later circulated petitions to run for the board at this year’s annual membership meeting. Their platform is to foster competitive board elections; make the board meetings as open to the membership as possible, given the privacy constraints of much of the board’s business; and involve the membership in decisions, such as gifting to local charities.
The initial notice from the VFCU was that 20 petitions were necessary to get on the ballot. When the management became aware of the petition drive, they postponed the meeting, sending out a new notice, requiring 330 signatures (1 percent of the membership). This was in accordance with the bylaws, but they never caught the mistake during several years, not until they got wind that someone was actually petitioning.
After signatures were handed in, two of the candidates were disqualified because a hyper-technical reading of the bylaws makes only the primary owner of a joint account a “member” qualified to vote and sign petitions. That left the reformers with two candidates who qualified.
A notice was duly sent out announcing that in addition to the four candidates selected by the nominating committee — all of the incumbents whose terms expired — there would be the two additional candidates by petition.
We recently learned that one of the incumbents up for re-election passed away in early May. So it appears the reformers are guaranteed one seat. The bylaw does not allow for nominations from the floor unless the number of candidates nominated by the committee plus those who have achieved status via petition is less than the number of open slots. Not the case here. There are five living candidates and four positions. Now it gets interesting — if you find Soviet-style elections interesting.
We have seen a memo from the VFCU stating that rather than make an immediate appointment, which would expire at the time of the election, the board will hold the seat vacant until such time as they make an appointment
We have seen a memo from the VFCU stating that rather than make an immediate appointment, which would expire at the time of the election, the board will hold the seat vacant until such time as they make an appointment. This is without any authority under the Federal Credit Union Act, the bylaws, or allow the seat held by the deceased board member to be decided at the annual meeting as clearly must be done under the bylaws and common sense, they intend to hold the seat open and have the board make an appointment upon recommendation by the nominating committee. They are scheming to illegally extend the deceased board member’s term of office for a full year. Putin, are you listening? You can learn from these folks.
One can only speculate whether 5:30 was chosen as a time because it limits the ability of working members to attend. Members who cannot attend can send a note to the credit union that unless the election goes forth as properly noticed, they will find a credit union that is truly member-owned and controlled to do their banking.
Management and the existing board will be exerting whatever pressure they can on employees to vote at the annual meeting. The branches will be closing an hour early to allow them to attend. Hopefully, the workers will take advantage of the secret ballot and teach their bosses a thing or two about democracy. I urge all who are members of the VFCU to attend the annual meeting on June 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in South Burlington and help us make the VFCU a member-controlled cooperative. One can become a member by opening a share account with a minimum balance of $25.
