Members of the 70,000-member, $1.6 billion Technology Credit Union who organized themselves enough to prevent the San Jose, Calif., credit union from becoming a mutual bank are considering what their next steps, if any, should be.
“Our litigation is going forward,” said Carlos Rodriguez, the Technology member who began the organization effort by launching a Facebook page to alert members of what he saw as the downsides of the conversion proposal. “And we are considering whether to launch an effort to recall some or all of the board members.”
The conversion proposal failed last week by roughly a margin of 3-1 among the approximately 17,500 ballots cast, Tech CU announced.
Rodriguez said the group has launched a survey on its Facebook page to ask members how they felt about the board and whether to recall its members. Questions on the survey include whether the reader would sign a petition to recall the board, how many ballots they received and whether they would be willing to ask for signatures outside Tech CU branches.
Fourteen members commented on the board recall question on the Facebook page as of the morning of Sept. 22, and the comments showed a variety of opinion.
Steve Baker wrote, “The board and the CEO need to be replaced by a team that wants to work for a credit union. Clearly, this team does not understand its customers and what their customers want, otherwise the vote would not have been overwhelming against their recommendation. Their interests are not aligned with their member’s interests. We need a board and a CEO that will work for us and with us and not waste almost $2 million of our money on a boondoggle. The honorable thing would be for the board and the CEO to resign. The time is now for a leadership change.”
But Paul Deaton wanted to give the board members more time to prove their worth. “I think we should give the existing board 6 moths [sic]. If we don't see a better performance for the buck, then to quote a favorite actor of mine. ... 'hang ‘em high.'”
Technology Credit Union declined a request for an interview to discuss the next steps the credit union might take in the wake of the charter change effort.
