An Apology TO CUNA Mutual Group and About those H1B's....

I received a letter February 2, 2008 from Jim Buchheim, Vice President -PR & Communications for CUNA Mutual Group (CMG). In it he noted inaccurate information that I had put forth regarding CMG. Recall that I have been retained by the Office Professional employees International Union Local 39 to assist them in bargaining with CUNA Mutual.

He is correct and I sent the following response.

Dear Mr. Buchheim:

I am responding of your letter noting some errors I have made in speaking or writing of CUNA Mutual Group. As you note at the conclusion of your letter:

Misleading the public, innuendo and less than factual information is not in anyone's best interest.

You point out with regard to the allegation that:

Jeff Post demutualized Fireman's Fund and was hired by CUNA Mutual's Board to do the same at CUNA Mutual...Jeff Post joined Fireman's Fund in 1994. Jeff did NOT lead a demutualization of Fireman's Fund

I stand corrected. Mr. Post did not demutualize Fireman's Fund.

While we are on this subject perhaps you can assist me with some data, so that I and OPEIU Local 39 do not make any additional mistakes. It has to do with the count of employees. Your third point to me was that I was incorrect in suggesting that CUNA Mutual might have hundreds of workers with H1B visas:

Out of a workforce of more than 4,000 nationwide, CUNA Mutual has 11 employees working under H1B visas. 

There are people working at CUNA who are CUNA employees. There are people working at CUNA who are contracted, or temp, or consultants who work for companies like Accenture. Could you provide a breakdown of these workers? Perhaps first break them out by those who work for CUNA Mutual Group and those who work for others; then those who are permanent employees and then those who are contracted. And among all of them, those who have H1B visas.

Last fall Mr. Post specifically said there were more employees at CUNA Mutual than there were the previous year. Yet other documentation shows a reduction. For example you told the Wisconsin State Journal that the "company has about 1,700 contracted employees company-wide, including 980 in Madison." Could Mr. Post have included contracted workers when he made the statement?

While we are making corrections I also recall a memorandum to credit unions on November 20, 2007 that said the following:

CUNA Mutual has learned individual retained by OPEIU Local 39...have begun contacting credit unions under the guise of "doing a study." Union contacts to credit unions are most likely to be initiated by...Paul Soglin...These calls appear to be part of the union’s strategy to be disruptive to credit unions...

Since we want to get to the facts and avoid innuendo, perhaps you might send a corrective email to the credit unions. I did contact a handful of credit unions. At no time did I mention a study or in any manner misrepresent who I was or what I was doing.

I identified myself by name and position and made it clear I represented the union.

I informed the recipients of the call of my purpose: to determine if their credit union was aware of the significant number of laid off employees, the use of contracted workers, and the shifting of the call centers roles to Waverly, Iowa and Fort worth, Texas. Correcting this error would be appreciated.

A similar discomforting innuendo appears in the January 16, 2008 email to employees regarding the billboard. Your company wrote:

The billboard, which could have more information added to it in the future, appears to be sponsored by OPEIU Local 39 as their name appears in smaller print in the lower left hand corner of the advertisement. 

OPEIU Local 39's name did appear on the billboard and, if you, the company had trouble telling who paid for it, an inquiry could have been made since you took the time to contact four of your affiliated companies or tenants to see if they were responsible for the placement of the advertisement. The innuendo that OPEIU Local 39 was less than forthright in taking responsibility for the advertisement was not flattering.

Lastly, you said that I was in error in saying that "No longer is a majority of CUNA Mutual's Board of directors made up of people from the credit union movement." In fact, at least eight of the present 13 members of the board have roots in the credit union movement and I was in error. My apologies to them and to you.

One final thought about demutualization. I believe that Mr. Post has taken steps to make it easier to demutualize CUNA Mutual group by virtue of the reincorporation in the state of Iowa. You did not correct my assertion regarding the demutualization of CUNA Mutual Group. Was that simply an omission? Or can I continue to hold out that demutualization is a possibility under the Post administration under the direction of the board of directors?

Sincerely yours,

Paul R. Soglin

Comments

[C. Alexander]

I realize that this is a previous article but I just came across it after applying for work with CUNA and initiating a browser search. I have been working contract (temporary assignments through staffing agencies) jobs since 2002 because I am unable to obtain a permanent position. I read more and more about H1B visa "non-immigranta" that are taking the jobs that Americans desire and are doing without. I am an older person and I know that my age has a strong impact when/if I am considered for permanent employment because of health care insurance and "retirement benefits", as such. The shameful part of this situation is that hard-working, capable and experienced Americans are going without health care because it is tied to employment and the outrageous cost of health care is just another reason to deny jobs to older people - particularly when you can just hire H1B endentured servants and give them low-wage work that does not provide benefits such as health care. When Reagan started the demise and elimination of unions, how many Americans realized that was just the beginning of shipping our jobs overseas and giving them away to "non-immigrants" - legally?. I know that there are millions more Americans than the government/Bush administration will ever admit to that are (and have been for years) without employment and thus without health care and just hanging on by the skin of their teeth and becoming more angry with each passing day. Not having health insurance has evolved into a death sentence because doctors and hospitals won't even treat you now. They claim that the "tests" to find out what's wrong with you are "too expensive"; much less any kind of treatment. America has fallen from a world giant and model of freedom to a third-world country drowning in debt, poverty and corruption while the rich and corporations get more obscenely richer. Thank you for the opportunity to speak out about what is happening in the U.S. Thank you for your research efforts and for presenting the facts for us and for your courage in speaking truth to power!