Dear Editor,
The check-off systems in general can be classified into two: the revocable and the irrevocable check-off. Both are obtained following negotiations and collective bargaining between the union and management and are thus usually included in the collective bargaining agreement. Before the implementation, the agreement provides that each union member signs a declaration requesting the employer to deduct a pre-determined amount from his/her wages/salaries on each payday as his/her dues to the union. Should there be more than one payday during the month (where, for example, wages/salaries are paid weekly, fortnightly, or monthly) the total amount of dues so deducted by the employer shall neither exceed nor be less than, the amount of monthly dues incorporated in the union constitution.
The revocable type of check-off stipulates that a union member can, upon signing a certified declaration, remove himself/herself from the list of union members who wish to have their dues checked off. On the other hand, the irrevocable check-off provides that each union member signs a declaration requesting the employer to deduct his/her monthly dues from his/her wages/ salaries. This must continue in effect until the date agreed to within the contract the duration of which is either for the period from the date of the certified declaration requesting the dues collection or for thirty days before the expiration date of the collective labour agreement. It is significant to note that under the irrevocable type of check-off, a union member cannot “contract out” of the system before the expiration of his/her declarations or of the contract whichever is the shorter.
Before seeking to establish the check-off, a union would be well advised to ascertain that its members are well aware of the proposal through general discussions in representative meetings and that, if the proposal meets with general approval, it shall continue to be a subject of continuous education at least in the sense of the use that the checked-off money is put to. While most union members are generally apathetic to normal union business, the question of its finances, insofar as it is taken from their payroll, interests them intensely much more so than many a union leader believes. It may be advisable, for example, for the union to consider issuing monthly well-explained financial statements to indicate to members how their money is spent and for what purposes.
In most unions, the dues payable by members are usually included in their Constitutions or byelaws. The amount so stipulated should be strictly adhered to notwithstanding any pressure by the employers to reduce it in return for a check-off. Under no circumstances should the union allow the employers to determine the amount of dues to be deducted from a member’s wages and salaries. Usually, the collective labour agreement covers the check-off would include provisions directing the employer how, where, and when he/she remits a cheque covering the total dues deducted from his/her employees’ wages/salaries. The union officials would be well advised to make certain that these provisions do not conflict in any way with the union’s constitution and/ or byelaws.
Sincerely,
Sherwood Clarke
General Secretary
Clerical & Commercial Workers’
Union (CCWU)
