SECU What's Next? The "New/New" Authoritarian Democracy?

   Just SECU Or Everywhere?

We've been banging away on the suppression of democratic cooperative principles at SECU. The purging of SECU member rights has been purposeful and extensive. And the question remains: "Why does the SECU Board fear the members?" 

The SECU Board and elite leadership team (ELT) seem befuddled by the idea that  SECU members have a right to be heard and make motions, resolutions at the annual business meeting. These fundamental rights are prescribed in the standard bylaws published by both the North Carolina Credit Union regulator and by the federal credit union regulator NCUA. That standard was firmly embedded in writing in the SECU bylaws for 86 years, until the "we/we" SECU Board's "no vote/no voice" 2023 bylaw amendments.

  If SECU so desperately seeks the mediocrity of "industry standard", then the SECU Board has failed that test largely. SECU has become  "the new unicorn" among all credit unions in the destructive, dismantling of  democratic, cooperative credit union principles. The SECU Board and ELT are now recognized within the credit union movement as "first without equals" - leadership without peer!

Every business person in the U.S. understands that a board of directors may not prohibit a shareholder from being heard at an annual meeting.  True business leaders like Warren Buffet prove that year after year. If you own only a single share of Bank of America, Duke Power, Walmart, McDonald's in your 401-k, you have the legal, democratic right to speak and participate as a shareholder.

😎 If LGFCU/CIVIC credit union encourages open member participation at its annual meeting...why doesn't SECU? 

✅ North Carolina state government should not be proud of this lapse in fair, citizen-first regulation. "Fiduciary duty" should have meaning and require accountability - for both the regulated and regulator. 

The failure to act besmudges us all.

"First In Freedom"... last in practice?

SECU What Next? Member-Ownership In SECU Now Has No Meaning?

   Can't the members take a hint?

Know you're tired of this series on the response [link] from Ms. Plaut, SECU Chief Legal Officer, to a request from a member on procedures to submit resolutions in advance to the Annual Meeting. But a few more "bullet points" and we'll move on...

😎 According to Ms. Plaut: "SECU members possess a defined set of member rights; those rights stem from the governing North Carolina statutes and from the SECU bylaws."

✅ 100% agree with that statement! From 1937 to 2023, those credit union member rights under both North Carolina state law and the SECU bylaws required that SECU members be permitted to speak and introduce new business or resolutions at the SECU Annual Meeting.

North Carolina laws governing credit unions "have not been updated in 25 years" according to Mr. Dan Schline, CEO of the Carolinas Credit Union League trade association - remember H.410 and all that [link]?

✅ If North Carolina state credit union laws have not changed, how have SECU members lost these rights?

Pretty simple! Ms. Plaut and the SECU Board have decided to bypass the State Legislature and unilaterally take the law into their own hands. SECU members have been stripped of their member ownership rights without being allowed a voice nor vote.

✅ "Why does the SECU Board fear the members?"

The "Plaut" thickens?