Looking back seven years ago finds Plano, Texas-based Community Credit Union winning the right to service 23,000 McDonald's Corp employees at 510 restaurants throughout the state. The move is one of the largest SEG affiliations in Texas history.

Community CU's shared branching and ATM placement helped it beat out seven other state chartered credit union contenders for the opportunity. Harold Feeney, Texas Credit Union Commissioner, said Community's McDonald application is indeed "unusual, given the size of the potential employee base" among proposed SEGs, noting the average SEG is in the "couple hundred employee category", but he's not "overly concerned." That issue also finds CUNA Mutual Group's announcement of terminating 20 employees due to the merging of two divisions drawing verbal fire from union officials. The layoffs are a result of CUNA Mutual combining its Facilities and Administrative Services divisions into a single division to be called the Support Services Division, which will have about 280 employees. Union officials see the move as a way for CUNA Mutual to "bust the union." "We are a very generous employer, but because of competition we have to tighten up in some areas. It's the normal ebb and flow of business. We're very sympathetic to the employees affected," said CUNA Mutual Senior Vice President Larry Blanchard. "We just can't afford to keep employees in a reserve pool for months or years."