SALEM, Ore. – A $1.6 million single sponsor credit union hasbeen forced to merge after its sole sponsor has ended itssponsorship of the CU. Orville Roth, the founder of the Roth'sgrocery store chain, helped found the now $1.6 million Roth'sEmployees FCU as an employee benefit in 1973. Just over 32 yearslater his son Michael, who runs the company now, withdrew thestore's sponsorship and demanded the credit union vacate the spaceit occupied on the second floor of one of the chain's stores byDec. 31. An article in the Statesman Journal quoted Michael Roth asblaming the credit union's small size and location for the CUfalling out of favor. “It didn't have the critical mass to competewith the credit unions that are on every corner,” the paper quotedhim as saying. Roth's declined to take any questions about thecredit union. The credit union has 948 members or just about 50% ofthe store chain's employees and was very popular with the employeesaccording to Shirley Arends, the credit union's CEO for 14 yearswho said that her desire to retire had sparked a dispute withRoth's that wound up with the credit union losing its sponsorship.“I was manager here because I believe in the credit union and notbecause of the money,” Arends said. “So when it got to be time Iwould like to move on it was hard to find someone else who would bewilling to work for a comparable salary.” The credit union's callreport showed that the CU had two employees, one full-time and onepart-time, and that the CU was paying out $58,000 in salary andbenefits per year as of June 2005. The search for someone with anaccounting background to take Arends' job led to some interest froma bookkeeper for the credit union and that, Arends said and Roth'sconfirmed for the Statesman, is when things got hot for the creditunion. Unbeknownst to Arends, Roth's considered the credit union avendor for the purposes of a policy which prevented vendors fromoffering employment to any Roth's employees. So when the creditunion let the Roth's leadership know that it was considering thebookkeeper for the job, Arends said the grocery chain's leadershiphad become so highly angered it wouldn't back off its decision toend the relationship with the credit union, even when both thecredit union and employee backed off the possible new hire. Thecredit union is being forced to merge, Arends said, because itslimited assets prevent it from being able to get space outside ofits sponsor's location. Members are scheduled to vote November 8 onthe proposed merger with the $9.6 million IBEW/SJ FCU which hasmultiple SEGs. [email protected]