I received a debit card from my relatively small credit union a few days ago. I was very surprised to see that it didn't have a chip in it.
It seems likely that the fees they earn from "signature transactions" must be significant enough that they don't want anyone using it as a chip card.
An alternative answer is that the cost of the cards themselves is so much that they don't want to do it. When I lost my wallet, a different credit union charged me $10 for a replacement card. And neither had a chip. The other banks did it for free.
When this article mentions "signature transactions" it is speaking of "chip and sig(nature)", meaning that you must insert or "dip" the chip-enabled card into a terminal and then sign on the terminal. The signature is submitted to your bank along with the transaction for verification. "chip and PIN" is much the same, except that you must enter a PIN instead of signing, and the PIN is sent to your bank for verification. I would also add that signature verification doesn't really do much, since banks will accept just about anything as your authorized signature. A signature is also not required for transactions under $25 (usually, depends on the merchant and specific minimums that your issuing bank sets).
It is quite weird that you don't have a chip card, since it is mandated to only provide chip enabled cards as of October 2016. I would ask your credit union for the reasoning behind not issuing you one.
It seems likely that the fees they earn from "signature transactions" must be significant enough that they don't want anyone using it as a chip card.
An alternative answer is that the cost of the cards themselves is so much that they don't want to do it. When I lost my wallet, a different credit union charged me $10 for a replacement card. And neither had a chip. The other banks did it for free.