1st April UPDATE:


Voting has now closed. The Executive proposal was endorsed by 70.8% of those who cast a vote. The proposed fee changes will be implemented during April.

ORIGINAL POST

We would like your support to increase membership fees for the union by between nothing and 50 cents a week for most. We have avoided raising fees for two years but we can no longer put it off. We know you struggle to pay your bills like all of us. But we really need your support to keep doing the job that we have to do for our members.

Last year’s AGM in November discussed fee increases and asked the new Executive to come up with a fee increase recommendation that would balance our books and then put it to a vote of all members.

Here are the four challenges we’ve had that made us come to you.

1. Delegates Training: The Government abolished our entire $80,000 annual budget (on average that’s $10 a member). But training our delegates is critical to helping our members so we now have to fund it out of your fees.

2.GST increase on fees: Since last October GST increased 2.5% from 12.5% to 15%.The average member pays $3 a week. 45 cents of that is GST.

3. Inflation: Over the last three years cumulative inflation has been 9.6% which means our costs have gone up by that amount.

4. Restaurants and Cinemas: Our members in these two sectors currently pay a maximum of $4 a week whilst every other member pays a maximum of $5. We propose every member should pay the same fees within two years. For this year we are recommending the maximum fee for members in restaurants and cinemas increase from $4 to $4.75 with the rest of the difference made up in the following year.

The Executive met this year in February and spent considerable time discussing the options. It was unanimously decided that an increase in fees was necessary to maintain our services to members and meet our legal obligations. A lot of consideration was given to the fairest way to increase fees while minimising the impact on members.

The final recommendation is as follows and we are asking you to vote in SUPPORT of the recommendation:

The proposal will make it easier for our lowest paid members while bringing the union’s income into line with our costs.
Even with the increase, Unite’s fees are still the lowest of any union in New Zealand.

The increases, if the proposal is approved, would begin during April 2011. As the minimum wage will rise and a number of Unite agreements have increases scheduled in April, most members should actually have more money in their pay anyway.

For example, on 1st April our 2000 Restaurant Brands waged members will receive a $3 wage increase on every $100 earned while the union fee will increase by only 10 cents per $100.

As a member of Unite you can have your say by going to this page.


You must vote by 5pm Thursday 31st March.

You will need to quote your Unite ID number which should have been sent to you by email, text or letter. If you do not have your Unite ID number please email support@unite.org.nz with your name, employer and the address of your workplace.

If you want more information or have any questions please feel free to contact us.

We look for forward to your continued support

Matt McCarten
Secretary
Phone: 0800 2 UNITE ext 17
Email: matt@unite.org.nz

Gerard Hehir
President
Phone: 0800 2 UNITE ext 34
Email: gerard@unite.org.nz