MEMBER PROFILE

Ted Bronsnick

Ted Bronsnick, who takes pride in being one of Alternatives first members, came in for an auto loan. “I did check with other lenders,” he told Consumer Loan officer Amy Smith, “but I decided to get my loan at Alternatives. A few other places had rates that were a bit lower, but Alternatives, in an effort to be competitive, was willing to lowers their rate by .75%. I felt my relationship with the Credit Union was reason enough to support what they do by getting my loan with them.”

Click for more...

"Minimum wage has to do with a power relationship between the employee and employer," said Bill Myers, CEO of Alternatives. "Minimum wage limits the employer/employee relationship to protect the weaker party, the employee. It seeks to answer, 'Can an employer earn enough from an employee's labor to pay a Minimum wage'? Livable Wage is about the life situation of the employee. The research behind Livable Wage asks 'how much income does it take to live in our community'"?

In 1994, Alternatives Credit Union did its first Livable Wage Study to address internal staff concerns about compensation levels. Rather than looking at what competitors paid, or what the statutory minimum wage was, the Credit Union wanted to look at what it took to support a person above the poverty level. It has continued to update this study every two years.