SAN JOSE, Calif.-Shortly after it was announced 77% of members had voted against turning Technology CU into a bank, few people were happier than Robert Marinace.
A member of Tech CU since 1978 and one of the leaders of the opposition, Marinace told Credit Union Journal he had spent numerous hours this summer writing letters, calling people and convincing them to vote no.
Marinace said he was not surprised at the 77% rejection rate, but noted Tech CU's CEO admitted during last week's meeting she had received twice as many member reactions opposed to the conversion versus in favor.
"I thought it would follow the 70% that Barbara Kamm stated in the meeting, 18 against and eight for," he said. "But the vote was even higher, showing people were not fooled by the propaganda that was mailed out by the credit union. Instead, they understood the points that I, Carlos Rodriguez, Paul Davis and others made in our letters. Barbara Kamm said she didn't get her message out about the charter conversion, but she should save herself a lot of anguish by just resigning. The members were the ones who were screwed by all the money that was spent on this. The money has to be restored, and they cannot get away with this. We are exploring how that money that can be put back into the credit union. Let's see if they offer to reimburse us for all the money we have spent, because they can't reimburse us for all the hours and all the aggravation."
In a released statement, CEO Kamm said, "Our members have voted and overwhelmingly indicated their preference to remain a credit union. We respect this decision and appreciate that so many of our members weighed in on this important vote. Providing the highest level of service for members will continue to be our top priority-and we will do so under our CU charter."
Carlos Rodriguez, who created a website [www.stayacu.org] and a Facebook page [www.facebook.com/stayacu] that have served as rallying points for the opposition over the past two months, told Credit Union Journal"our work is not done. We are going to make sure we have a board that is responsive to the membership. How could they not hear the shouts?"
