SECU What Next ? SECU Board Strips Away Member Rights...

  ... starting with freedom of speech.

As you noted in the "Brass Tacks" post [link]; over the last two years, the SECU Board first restricted and has now prohibited SECU members from speaking or pre-submitting resolutions at the Annual Meeting.  How has this happened? 

😎 Several commenters asked the appropriate question: "Why does the SECU Board fear the members?"

✅ The SECU Board took these core membership rights away by submitting a series of bylaw changes to the NC Credit Union Division (the State CU regulator) in mid-2023. In part, the SECU Board requested the following amendment to: "... (iii) authorize the Board to establish upon notice to the membership policies and procedures governing the order of business, format and conduct of the annual meeting." 

The SECU Board passed the proposed bylaw amendments at its evening meeting on Tuesday, 6/27/2023 and submitted them to the NC Credit Union Division for approval on Wednesday, 6/28/2023.   

The proposed SECU bylaw amendments were approved by the Administrator of NC Credit Unions on 6/30/2023, two days later - an unheard of regulatory turn-around for non-standard bylaw proposals. After approving the bylaw amendments on 6/30/2023, the Administrator of Credit Unions then retired at the end of the day .

Without the "middle of the night" by law approvals, the SECU Board would not have been able to restrict and then prohibit  member free speech at the Annual Meeting - reversing binding, fundamental member rights which had been in place since 1937.

😎 Why is the SECU Board purposefully stripping these basic rights from the SECU membership? "Why does the SECU Board fear the members?"

  Down to brass tacks... with more to come!

 

 

 

SECU What Next? Time For The Heavy Lifting, Time To ...

... get down to brass tacks!

Been dawdling for a few months on less important issues, but now the season is at hand to address the fundamental, critical concern - SECU governance, your rights as a member owner of the credit union. As a member you need to know what you have already lost and to understand what you may well lose in the future. It's important to you!

Before we launch in earnest, lets go back and revisit yesterday's post [link]. Why? Because the excerpt below from the "Chief Legal Officer/General Counsel" is an excellent example of the misdirection and lack of transparency which have plagued SECU in "recent" years.

❋ According to Ms. Cathleen Plaut:  " ... the rules for recent Annual Meetings have permitted members the opportunity to speak or submit questions - but there was no process to allow members to introduce resolutions for consideration at the Annual Meeting."

"Recent Years"     Member May Speak     Member Resolutions

       2022                  Fully Permitted             Fully Permitted

       2023                     Restricted                     Restricted

       2024                     Prohibited                    Restricted

       2025                             ?                           Prohibited 

Hope it goes without saying that resolutions and participation by SECU members were fully permitted and welcomed from 1937 until 2023. 

With Ms. Plaut's latest proclamation, no resolutions will now be "permitted" at the 2025 SECU Annual Meeting. Ms. Plaut would have been more transparent and genuine to have stated succinctly that SECU members have been "prohibited" in recent years from speaking at or presenting resolutions to the SECU Annual Meeting.

😎 SECU "Newspeak"?  First we had the "no formal proposal proposal", now we have the "new/new" Annual Meeting "recently permitted prohibitions"!

Our "new/new" democratic cooperative?