ANNEX II (continued)
Letter from the Clerk of the Committee to the General
Secretary, GMB
The Deregulation Committee has begun its consideration of the
proposal for the Deregulation (Deduction from Pay of Union Subscriptions)
Order 1998. At its meeting on 13 January, concerns were raised
regarding the provision to remove the requirement for employers
to notify workers who used check off of increases in deductions.
It was suggested that, as a result, there would be numbers of
workers who were not informed in advance that deductions from
their pay for union subscriptions were being increased.
In your response to the consultation paper you state that you
notify your members of any increases in contributions. The Committee
would like to know whether there are existing requirements
for you to notify your members of increases in subscriptions,
and also what efforts are made to ensure that all union
members are notified. The Committee also wish to know whether
there are requirements that specify the form in which such notifications
are carried out and if not how the process is carried out.
14 January 1998
Letter from the National Legal Officer
of the GMB to the Clerk of the Committee
The General Secretary, John Edmonds, has asked me to reply to
your letter.
1. There is no requirement in our Union's rules that
we notify our members of increases in contributions before they
take effect.
2. However, our Congress approves contribution increases only
on condition that time is allowed to notify members directly of
the increase, before it takes effect. In both 1996 and 1997,
our Congress (held in the first half of June), approved increases
in our contribution levels by amendments to our rules. However,
in each case, the increases did not take effect until the first
week in October of that year. This timetable was expressly designed
in order to allow each individual member to be notified of
the increase.
3. Between June and October, therefore, each GMB region notified
its members (whether paying by cash, by cheque or through direct
debit) of the impending increase. I attach a copy of a sample
form which was adapted at Regional and Branch level as appropriate.
4. It follows that there are no requirements specifying the
form for this notification, but the Committee will be able to
see that the notification is quite clear in advising the individual
of the relevant amount of the increase.
So in practice, GMB ensures that contribution increases
are not brought in before the membership is advised of the Congress
decision.
21 January 1998
Letter from the Clerk of the Committee
to the General Secretary of the TUC
The Deregulation Committee has begun its consideration of the
proposal for the Deregulation (Deduction from Pay of Union Subscriptions)
Order 1998. At its meeting on 13 January, raised a number of questions
about aspects of the proposal.
(i) Transitional Arrangements
You stated in your response to the consultation paper that existing
authorisation forms did not refer to a three year limit and that
authorisation for check off, given by workers, should not be seen
to be limited in this way. Consequently, you argued that repeal
of the requirement to re-authorise should simply lead to all existing
authorisations becoming indefinitely valid. Accordingly, given
that you maintain that workers are aware of their rights to withdraw
from check off, you contended that the transitional arrangements
were unnecessary. The Department argued that it may be difficult
to determine in particular cases whether a worker's authorisation
should be construed to have been given for indefinite deduction
or to have been given on the understanding that renewal would
be required (paragraph 44 of Explanatory Memorandum to the proposal).
It was claimed that the transitional arrangements were thus essential
to give legal certainty on this point to employers and workers.
The Committee would be grateful for any further clarification
of your views on this point.
(ii) Removal of Requirement for employers to notify workers
who use check off of increases in amounts deducted.
Concerns were raised that if this requirement was removed, there
would be numbers of workers who were not informed in advance that
deductions from their pay for union subscriptions were being increased.
In your response to the consultation paper you state that "unions
already notify their members of increases in subscriptions"
(paragraph 8). The Committee would like to know whether requirements
exist for all unions affiliated to the TUC to notify their members
of increases in subscriptions, and what efforts are made to ensure
that all union members are notified. They also wish to know how
such notifications are carried out.
14 January 1998
Letter from the General Secretary of
the TUC to the Clerk of the Committee
In our response to the Government's consultation paper on the
repeal of the check-off restrictions, the TUC argued against the
suggested transitional arrangements on the grounds that people
do not regard their union membership as being for a fixed period
of three years. We are not aware of any initial consent forms
or re-authorisation forms that refer to a three year validity
for subscription deductions. A TUC survey of the forms used by
some of our largest affiliated unions in the most recent re-authorisation
exercise confirms this:
UNISON
I authorise you to continue deduction of my UNISON subscription
from my pay
Transport and General Workers' Union
I hereby authorise the continued deduction of my Union contributions
from my wages/salary
Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union
I hereby authorise my employer to deduct from my wages and
pay direct to the Union my contributions to the Amalgamated Engineering
and Electrical Union
GMB
I hereby authorise the deductions of my union subscriptions/contributions
from my wages
Manufacturing Science Finance I hereby authorise the deduction
of subscriptions to my union MSF from my salary
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
I am a member of Usdaw/Sata and I authorise my employer to
deduct from my wages the amount of contributions payable by me
under the terms of the Union's rules as amended from time to time.
Communication Workers Union
I authorise the deduction of my union contributions from my
salary by the above named employer
Graphical, Paper and Media Union
I hereby authorise my employer to deduct union contributions
from my wages or salary at source and to pay such deductions to
the Graphical, Paper and Media Union
Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists
I hereby authorise the deduction of my IPMS subscription from
my Salary
Thus the TUC maintains that there is no need for any notification
to members about the continued deduction of their union subscriptions.
We see no reason why the repeal of the requirement to seek re-authorisation
should impose any new obligations on employers, as union members
already expect their membership to continue unless otherwise instructed.
The Committee also sought further information on the repeal of
the requirement for employers to give advance notice of increases
in subscriptions to those on check-off. The TUC welcomed the
Government's proposal to repeal this provision as it is an unnecessary
burden on business. As a matter of good practice trade unions
notify all their members about increases in subscriptions, not
just those on check-off. This is done in a variety of ways.
Some unions put the information about increases in subscriptions
in journals which are posted to individual members. Some unions
print special leaflets about the increases in subscriptions which
are either sent to members' home addresses or distributed at the
workplace or through union branches.
Unions take the view that their members expect to receive information
about subscription levels from the union rather than the employer,
and the TUC is satisfied that unions have the appropriate procedures
in place to ensure that proper notice is given.
21 January 1998
Letter from the Clerk of the Committee
to the General Secretary, Retained Firefighters Union
(i) Re-authorisation Requirement
One suggestion that was made in the course of the consultation
process was that the requirement for re-authorisations every three
years prevented workers continuing to pay union subscriptions
unwittingly since they would regularly be put in a position of
deciding whether they wanted to continue paying their union subscriptions
by check off or at all. However, the point was also made by UNISON
that the re-authorisation process had lead to numbers of workers
inadvertently falling out of union membership because they failed
to return their re-authorisation before the expiry of the authorisation
or at all.
You noted in your response to the consultation document that in
the course of the second process of renewals of authorisations
that you carried out, the union experienced a 3% fall in membership.
The Committee would be grateful if you could inform them what
proportion of the 3% of workers who failed to re-authorise did
subsequently re-join.
(ii) Notification of Increases in Deductions
Concerns were raised at the Committee's meeting on 13 January
regarding the provision to remove the requirement for employers
to notify workers who used check off of increases in deductions.
It was suggested that, as a result, there would be numbers of
workers who were not informed in advance that deductions from
their pay for union subscriptions were being increased. The Committee
would like to know whether the Retained Firefighters Union is
required to notify its members of increases in subscriptions,
and how such notifications are carried out.
15 January 1998
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