Lake Michigan CU Employees at a Second Branch Plan to Unionize

Employees at a second branch said they plan to join the Lake Michigan Credit Union (LMCU) Workers Alliance, and a second unfair labor practice charge has been filed against Michigan’s largest financial cooperative after it fired an assistant branch manager.

Kam Pierre and Olga Valez, who work at the Bonita Beach Road branch in in Bonita Springs, Fla., wrote in a Feb. 23 letter to Sandy Jelinski, president/CEO of the $11.9 billion LMCU in Caledonia, Mich., that they filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a union election. But they would withdraw that petition by March 1 if Jelinski voluntarily recognizes the labor union.

In January, employees at LMCU’s South Division branch in Wyoming, Mich., voted in favor of forming the LMCU Workers Alliance in affiliation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). A month later, the leader of the LMCU Workers Alliance, Ivan Diaz, a former member services representative, was fired.

The CWA filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge alleging Diaz was terminated for his participation in the labor union “in order to discourage union activities and/or membership.” LMCU, however, flatly denied this charge and added the credit union respects the rights of employees to organize and is looking forward to a productive relationship with the union.

The Bonita Beach Road branch employees said they are organizing to join the labor union to address what they describe as challenging working conditions and to improve their compensation and benefits.

“As one of the shortest-staffed branches in the entire credit union, we echo the sentiment shared by the South Division LMCU branch of feeling underappreciated and under-compensated. Our branch is consistently left with only two people to cover the responsibilities of a full team. In addition to the increased workload this presents, it decreases the quality of our work environment,” Pierre and Valdez wrote in their letter.

In response, LMCU said that it has long been focused on providing excellent employment and career opportunities with competitive wages and benefits in a welcoming work environment for all of its team members in Florida and Michigan.

“We strongly deny the Communications Workers of America’s allegations against LMCU and view these as inaccurate, and unfounded,” LMCU said. “For the past 15 years, LMCU has been consistently recognized as one of the Best and Brightest companies to work for and in 2022 LMCU was a National Winner for the Best and Brightest Program in the United States. We believe our employee-focused approach sets us apart. We take the concerns of our staff seriously, and we are committed to remaining an employer of choice throughout the banking and finance industry.”

While the ULP charge by Diaz is being investigated by the NLRB, the federal agency is expected to investigate a second ULP charge filed by the CWA regarding Allyssa Zamarripa, an assistant branch manager at LMCU’s south division branch who was fired.

The CWA’s ULP charge alleged that LMCU discriminated against employees at the South Division location by terminating Zamarripa in order to retaliate against her for her union support and to intimidate employees for exercising their labor union rights. What’s more, the ULP charge also alleged there were anti-union statements made to Zamarripa that violate federal laws.

Zamarripa did not respond to CU Times’ request for comment.

LMCU declined to comment regarding the ULP charge involving Zamarripa.