Union Membership Subs Payments Under Attack From The Government

With the usual dishonest and misleading play-on-words, the Government’s attack on Trade Union membership continues as new legislation will abolish payment of Union fees direct from wages for all public sector workers; in an attempt to reduce Trade Union membership by default!

The true aim of this so-called ‘modernising the relationship between employees and trade unions.’ is to cause major disruption to the Unions forcing them into needless recruitment campaigns in order to retain the members they already have due to the discontinuation of subscriptions.

Furthermore, it is the case that Union membership levels will decrease as many existing members won't be bothered to arrange direct debits in the short term without major efforts from the Trade Unions to remind them they will need to do so in order to retain their membership.

By claiming that the Tax payer is funding Trade Union facility time as well as the payment of Union fees via wages, the Government is setting up an attack on TRade Unions not just in the public sector, but will encourage private sector employers to do the same.

In a press release issued today (6th August) the Government said that their plans would be enforced via the Trade Union Bill currently going through Parliament:

‘The government has today announced its intention to abolish the practice of ‘check off’ across all public sector organisations, modernising the relationship between employees and trade unions.

• outdated practice of state-run union subscription payments to be ended, removing the taxpayer-funded administrative burden on employers
• union subscriptions can be paid by direct debit, modernising the relationship with trade unions and giving public sector workers greater consumer protection removal of ‘check off’ in the public sector to be included in the Trade Union Bill, as part of curtailing public cost of ‘facility time’ subsidies

The removal of check off will modernise the relationship between employees and their trade unions, while removing the burden of administration from the employer. The move also gives the employee greater control over their subscription, allowing them to set up their own direct debit with their chosen trade union, and giving them greater consumer protection under the Direct Debit Guarantee.'

This was first done in number of central government departments including the Home Office, HM Revenue & Customs and Ministry of Defence.’ earlier this year, affecting in the main PCS members.

Source: Gov Press Release

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