Oregon Credit Union Creates New Floating Cultural Holiday
New benefit will give Unitus Community CU employees a day off to celebrate Juneteenth or other cultural day commemorations.
The $1.3 billion Unitus Community Credit Union has created a new floating cultural holiday that allows its 276 employees to take a day off to celebrate Juneteenth or to commemorate other cultural holidays of their choosing.
Unitus Community’s headquarters in downtown Portland, Ore., is just two to three blocks from where thousands of people have been holding largely peaceful demonstrations for nearly three weeks in support of racial justice and police reforms following the death of George Floyd.
Even though a large crowd is expected to gather in downtown Portland to commemorate Juneteenth on Friday, Unitus Community will be open, and employees have been encouraged to wear something that honors African community history and the Black community. Juneteenth, a combination of the words June and nineteenth, commemorates June 19, 1865, when a Union general told slaves in Galveston, Texas, that slavery had been abolished.
“As we reflected on the June 19 holiday, we figured there would be some people who would want to take the day off, but for others they may want to take a day off on another important cultural day for them,” Unitus Community President/CEO Steven Stapp said. “So we thought why don’t we create a floating cultural holiday and our employees can choose to take the day off on June 19, or if they are Hispanic American or Asian American they can choose another day, or others can take the day off to commemorate Gay Pride Day. We felt it was an inclusive way to give our staff some flexibility.”
Though June 19 is not an official national holiday of the Federal Reserve, 46 states recognize it as a holiday. On Wednesday, the Portland City Council declared June 19 as an official holiday, giving city employees the day off.
“Obviously, these last few weeks for us have really been a time for reflection, learning and action,” Stapp said. “I always emphasize the word action, because if we don’t do anything about it then we are just sitting idly by.”
Through the leadership of the Unitus Community board of directors, Stapp said the financial cooperative has been focused on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
After the board attended last year’s conference of the World Council of Credit Unions, a DEI committee was established, which is now working with the leadership team in reviewing policies, procedures and other information to assess and facilitate DEI efforts.