TUKWILA, Wash. - At press time, the strike of approximately 22,000 Boeing employees was still on.
Of the 22,000 employees that began striking on Feb. 2, about 13,000 are members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace union. About 12,000 of those union employees are members of Boeing Employees' CU.
The credit union has dealt with its share of layoffs and downsizing in the past. To help meet the needs of its members that have been laid-off or transferred, BECU developed an Income Interruption Plan.
The plan allows members to defer CU loan payments and take out special loans that members don't have to start repaying until 90 days from the the day the loan is taken out.
At press time, Joe Brancucci, vice president of lending for BECU, said so far about 4,000 striking members have asked for loan deferments. In total, the 4,000 members have about 11,000 loans that will be deferred.
Brancucci also noted that about 260 striking members have asked for the special Income Interruption loans. He expects that number to go up, given that so far the striking employees have only really missed one paycheck.
"The strike is going on longer than we expected," said Brancucci. "We communicated through our own Web site, and through the union and community outreach what our services were to help striking members," he said.
