Rules 2002

Rule 4
Contributions and levies

(a) Full members shall pay contributions monthly in advance by direct debit. Where this is not possible, members shall pay by standing order, cheque, cash or deduction at source.
(i) Grade 1: Members employed in provincial newspapers, commercial local radio, book sectors and on magazines outside London; freelance members working for regional media organisations, members in branches outside the United Kingdom and Ireland; and members on Head Office Register.
(ii) Grade 2: Members working in public relations and information and in the magazine and freelance sectors (excluding freelances working for regional media organisations) and as advertising copywriters.
(iii) Grade 3: Members employed in national newspapers sectors, broadcasting (excluding independent local radio), national and foreign news agencies; and officials of the union.

Grade 1: £133.32 a year.
Grade 2: £171 a year.
Grade 3: £239.40 a year.

(b) No member shall be required to pay contributions of more than one per cent of his/her annual earnings before tax or 0.5per cent in the case of those paid £12,600 per year or less. The NEC shall have power to authorise appropriate reductions provided that the minimum rate of contribution is not less than one third the rate for grade one. Newly elected members eligible for reduced contributions must apply within one month of election to obtain a reduction to the end of the calendar year.

(c) The NEC may introduce a differential rate for members paying in Irish currency for any period in which the sterling/punt exchange rate moves 10 per cent above or below parity.

(d) Members of honour and life members are not required to pay contributions or levies.

(e) Temporary members shall pay one third of the Grade 1 contributions rate.

(f) Retired members shall pay £10 a year.

(g) Student members shall pay £10 to cover the full duration of their course plus their first three months of full membership.

(h) Associate members shall pay the appropriate freelance subscription rate.

(j) The NEC shall allocate to the Fighting Fund on a quarterly basis not less than 12 per cent of the contributions collected from members in the previous quarter.

(k) Any member failing to pay an annual contribution, quarterly instalments of the annual contribution or a general levy within a period of three calendar months from the due date shall be sent a warning notice of lapsing by the appropriate union office to his/her last known. If any part of the amount due remains unpaid at the end of 28 days the member shall be lapsed. Each office shall inform the member’s branch of each stage of the lapsing process. This clause shall not apply to a member subject to an instruction of the NEC to withdraw from his/her employment or to one who is subject to disciplinary proceedings under Rule 24.

(l) Any member whose contributions are three calendar months or more in arrears, or who has failed to pay the whole of a general levy within a period of six months, shall be disqualified from voting in union elections, from being nominated for or holding any union office, from continuing to participate in an election as a nominated candidate or acting as a branch or union delegate or representative.

(m) When in any period of three months the amount of all forms of benefit paid to members exceeds £25,000 the NEC may impose a levy to operate for such time as the NEC decides. The levy may be imposed at any date provided that four weeks’ notice be sent to all branches. No general levy shall be imposed for any other reason until it has been sanctioned by a ballot vote of the union.

(n) Any chapel, branch or group of branches may, with the consent of the NEC and after a ballot of its members, add to the normal contributions of its members, a levy to meet its own expenditure or for any other purpose.

(p) The NEC alone shall have power to excuse or remit contributions or levies.

(q) Any member who has withdrawn his/her labour under Rule 21 for longer than 28 days shall be exempt from paying contributions for the duration of the withdrawal of labour.

(r) A member who is wholly unemployed shall be exempt from the payment of one-twelfth of his/her annual contribution and any levy, for each whole period of 28 days that he/she remains unemployed or receives unemployment benefit. Exemption from payment shall also apply to a woman member whose unemployment arises from pregnancy and to any member taking unpaid parental leave.