Starting in 2021, UW Credit Union will close early on June 19 to recognize the end of slavery after the Civil War.
All 28 branches will recognize the day as a corporate holiday and will close at 1 p.m. The 700 employees will receive holiday pay and when it falls on a weekend employees will receive floating holiday hours.
Paul Kundert, president and CEO, said for the last four years UWCU has made behind the scenes efforts to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion. He said the company is in the process of evaluating hiring and promotional practices and all employees take a DEI training. Last year, the company hired a full-time diversity consultant, Sheila Milton.
“This observance is another signal that we believe the Black experience and struggles are important in our shared history and that the end of slavery is worthy of acknowledgment and celebration,” Milton wrote to Madison365 in an email.
Recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday is an outward proclamation, Kundert said.
“There needed to be some tangible, externally visible signals that as an organization we’re committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and we are on that journey,” he said.
June 19, 1865 is a day when African-American enslaved people in Texas were told by Union forces that they were free. They were the final group of enslaved people to realize their freedom. Deep in the Confederacy, they were unaware of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation almost two years earlier.
Milton said she hopes on the holiday employees will take time to reflect on this history.
“We would like employees to take the holiday to reflect on our past, but more importantly, consider how each one of us can continue to show up and band together to work toward a better future,” she wrote to Madison365 in an email.
Nationally, Juneteenth is recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia as a state holiday or observance. North Dakota, South Dakota and Hawaii do not recognize Juneteenth.
It was declared a Wisconsin State Holiday on Dec. 1, 2009. On Aug. 13, the Dane County board of supervisors passed a resolution making Juneteenth a paid holiday for all Dane County employees.
Kundert hopes the recognition will spark conversations and encourage other corporate companies to do the same.
“It is important that corporate leaders find visible, tangible ways to respond to the experience of this year with all the challenges, hardship and racial disparities laid bare,” Kundert wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “We have a great deal of opportunity and hard work ahead on a journey to greater racial equity, but people across our community need some hope that we are on that journey.”
