WASHINGTON – CUNA, which has been struggling with large losses, said yesterday it will furlough all employees for a week of unpaid leave and stop making matching 401(k) retirement account payments to help stem its declining financial situation.
The budget cuts come after CUNA reported an $8 million loss for 2008, after a $5.7 million loss for 2007.
The furloughs will be staggered to ensure the continuation of services to members, CUNA said yesterday.
"These budget actions taken by CUNA are difficult but necessary in this current economic environment," said CUNA President Dan Mica, in a statement. "A number of factors together have had a direct and negative effect on CUNA’s financial results, including financial constraints on our own members and the broad market impact on our reserves and defined benefit plan. As a result we have had to implement these additional cost-cutting measures that will put us in a stronger position to weather the economic storm."
"We are pulling together as a team to address this situation, working on behalf of our members with no diminishment in the level of advocacy and educational services or first-class product offerings that our members expect from our organization," the statement read.
