Michigan CU Employees Say They're 'Not Compensated' Properly, Plan to Form Union

Eleven branch employees at Michigan’s largest financial cooperative, the $11.7 billion Lake Michigan Credit Union in Caledonia, said they are forming a union because they want higher wages.

In a Dec. 12 letter to LMCU President/CEO Sandy Jelinski, the employees of the South Avenue Division branch in Wyoming – southwest of Grand Rapids – said as one of the busiest branches by member transactions where multiple different languages are spoken, they feel unappreciated and undercompensated for their contribution in making the branch successful.

“Those of us with bilingual skills are not compensated for those additional skills,” the letter to Jelinski read. “In addition, we are often pulled from the teller line to assist coworkers in the call center or other departments with members who require assistance in Spanish or another language. Further, there are many of us who have been with the CU for years now who have not received commensurate raises and as such are being paid as the same as starting employees.”

LMCU said in a prepared statement it is aware that an outside union is attempting to organize some employees at the branch.

“The union election petition does not apply to any of our other branch locations. LMCU prides itself in providing excellent employment opportunities with competitive wages and benefits and a welcoming work environment,” LMCU said. “In our opinion, outside unions have their own agenda, are divisive, and are unnecessary for us to maintain our high employment standards and customer service.”

Ivan Diaz, who is reportedly the head organizer of the union and an LMCU loan officer, is one of the branch employees who signed the letter. Diaz was recently elected as a commissioner for Kent County.

“I am happy to announce that my coworkers and I at the LMCU branch known as South Division have announced our intent to unionize by forming the LMCU Workers Alliance (LMCUWA) and joining the Communications Workers of America,” he wrote on a Facebook post.

Although the group of employees acknowledged in their letter that they could quit LMCU to find higher paying jobs, they would rather stay at the branch to continue building “this great team.”

“As such, in order for us to keep providing the member service that is expected of us, and which we love providing, we feel our concerns should be addressed,” the letter read.

Although the letter indicated these employees brought their concerns sometime earlier to the attention of upper management, they said despite their branch management’s best efforts, their concerns have not been addressed.

“Forming a union empowers us to have the collective voice that we deserve to ensure that our members and our staff continue having the excellent relationship we have established over the years,” the letter read. “We believe this will help to improve communication and transparency at LMCU.”

The group of employees said they have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election. However, if Jelinski agrees to voluntarily recognize the union by Dec. 16, they will withdraw their NLRB petition, according to the letter.