MADISON, Wis. – It's certainly not an ideal situation to stepinto the CEO position at a company in the midst of a labor dispute.That's exactly where new CUNA Mutual CEO Jeff Post finds himself.Post, although on the job only a month, said he's working to find asolution. “I've been spending a fair amount of time on that. I'mformulating a strategy. It's something we would all like to seeresolved,” said Post. He doesn't want a solution at all costshowever, he wants to ensure CUNA Mutual isn't over spending andhurting its competitiveness. “I think people understand you oweemployees a fair contract, but you don't owe them more than a faircontract. At the end of the day CUNA Mutual is a very honorablecompany. The turnover rate is 4%; we're hardly underpaying people.Where I came from if we had a 12% turnover rate it was a very goodyear,” he said. Post is the former CEO of Fireman's Fund InsuranceCompany. Though CUNA Mutual is dominant in the bond market, he saysif pricing slips, clients will be lost. Post has already contactedcredit union CEOs whose credit unions have left CUNA Mutual's bondprogram, and the primary reason they cite is pricing. CUNA Mutualfor years has had to face down competitors coming into the bondmarket trying to lure away clients on price. Competitors have hadlittle success, though there have been some large CUs lost, such asU.S. Central which last year moved to Chubb Insurance. U.S. Centralcited a $155,000 annual savings as one reason for the move. Onelingering disagreement between the union and the company isoutsourcing. CUNA Mutual wants the opportunity to outsource whereit makes financial sense. “This outsourcing of America is not aCUNA Mutual issue, it's a United States population issue. My goalhere is to keep jobs in Madison, I just need them to becompetitive,” said Post. He said it's irresponsible for a CEO tomake business decisions that will cost the company more money thanother known options. Post would not go into details about hissolution strategy for the labor situation at this point. So whatkind of changes does the new CEO have in store for the company?Expect some shakeup in the management structure. “Today once youget beyond senior vice president, there's only one job in thiscompany. I don't think you're going to find that in any bestpractices handbook. This kind of structure is unwieldy for peopleto work in, not only me working into the organization, but theorganization working up to me,” said Post. He said the way CUNAMutual is structured, there's not enough cross-functionalresponsibility in management. The company has 14 SVPs. “In anylarge corporation there will be an organizational structure inplace that has a CEO, generally some EVPs that have multi-functionresponsibility and then SVPs. It's the right way to get decisionsmade. It's the right thing to do to have opportunities for peopleto grow and to have a reasonable succession plan,” said Post. Hesaid too many decisions have to be made at the very top at CUNAMutual which could affect the company's nimbleness. Post said heexpects a change in the management ranks, though he doesn't knowhow extensive. He cited CEO changes at most companies result inabout a 50% change in leadership. He said often management memberswill “self-select” themselves out of the organization because theydon't want to play into the new vision the CEO is setting. Otherscan't work up to the new bar the CEO has set. Post has also spenthis first month learning all the various credit union acronyms andmeeting with credit union leaders. “I think people in general viewCUNA Mutual in a favorable light, a key partner in the movement,however I think they would like to see us listen a little bit morethan we do today.” [email protected]