A small group of members of the $1.4 billion Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union is petitioning the NCUA's Inspector General to require the 75,000-member credit union to hold a special meeting where directors could be removed.

In a Feb. 12 form letter to the agency, at least 30 members cited the credit union's bylaws as requiring a special meeting if 5% of the CU's membership or 750 members signed a petition requesting such a meeting. 

The members claim 1,693 members signed a petition seeking the meeting but that the credit union's board of directors denied the request on the grounds that it did not “give proper notice” of the potential to remove board members and did not give the board members a chance to defend themselves.

The credit union has not commented on the dispute.  The credit union has a history of leadership fights that have often included litigation.

According to court documents included with the letters, the matter has already been before the courts, with the Supreme Court of Kings County agreeing with the members and ordering the CU to hold the Special Meeting.

The credit union board won reversal of that decision on appeal, but in their letters the members did not seem fazed. 

“It is not a court but Credit Union Bylaws that gives members right to demand calling of a special meeting,” the letter said.

The nation’s largest primarily ethnic credit union, Polish & Slavic is based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has recently expanded in Chicago.