Subscribing to a good deal


Setting the right rate for membership contributions — overwhelmingly unions’ main source of income — is a difficult call for unions. 


Falling union membership and rising prices places upwards pressure on the rates they need to charge to ensure they keep their books in balance.


But today’s employment climate — including the wage squeeze and the explosion of precarious employment —means it is harder than ever to get new workers to join unions and, in some cases, even keeping existing members on board. This means there is also strong pressure to keep subs as low as possible. 


Between 2004, when Labour Research last surveyed union subscription levels, and 2015 (the year of the latest certification office figures), overall union membership declined by about 8%. At the same time, RPI inflation rose by 39%, meaning unions have faced big challenges to keep contribution rates down. 


And virtually static wages in some areas are adding to the problem, as exemplified by the FDA senior civil servants’ union. Following a resolution passed at its 2017 conference, the union announced that “recognising the financial pressures facing members due to the continued policy of civil service pay restraint”, it would freeze subs for five years till 2022.


Labour Research has examined the subscription rates and structures of the 49 TUC-affiliated unions to find out what they do to balance these opposing forces. 


There are four main systems unions use for their member contributions:


• a “flat-rate” subscription — basically a single main rate for full-time workers. This is still the most common method and is used by 30 of the 49 unions; 


• a range of flat rates for members in different job levels or grades, used by five unions;


• a range of rates depending on the member’s income band, used by 12 unions; and

• a percentage of the member’s income, used by one union.

Flat-rate subscription levels currently range from around £2.90 to £33.60 a month. The union on the mid-point of that range is the largest — general union Unite — whose standard monthly rate is £15.14. For someone on current median earnings (just under £28,500), this roughly equates to 0.64% of pay. 


Rates vary widely in unions with either grade-related or income-related subs, as those unions tend to cover staff from a large range of income groups. 


As an example, the largest of them, public services union UNISON, has rates ranging from £1.30 a month for those earning £2,000 or less a year, up to £22.50 a month for those on a salary of over £35,000. 


Members on average earnings would pay £17.25 per month, or around 0.73% of salary. The union whose rate is a percentage of income or earnings is airline pilots’ union BALPA, which charges 1% of salary. This is lower in the first year (0.5%) and in the second year (0.75%).


However, these main rates are only a part of the story, and “non-standard” working patterns means unions have established a plethora of reduced rates so as not to disadvantage members and potential members who tend to be on lower incomes. 


For many years, trade unions have acknowledged the need for lower subs for part-time workers. In those with income-related subs levels, part-timers will automatically pay lower contributions than full-timers on equivalent pay levels. But unions with flat-rate subs, or rates based on grade, deal with this in different ways. Around a third of them have special rates for part-timers, and some have more than one part-timers’ rate depending on how many hours are worked. In the NEU and NASUWT education unions, for example, there are two part-timer rates — one for those working 60% hours or less and a lower rate for those on 30% or less. 


Similarly, the Accord finance union has two rates — one for those on 16-34 hours and another for those on 15 hours or less. 


Part-timers may opt for a lower-rate sub in transport union URTU and shopworkers’ union Usdaw, though they get slightly fewer benefits for this.


However, part-timers are not the only group who need to be considered for reduced-rate membership. Some unions offer a lower rate for members who are in lower-graded jobs than the majority membership. 


For example, most of those covering health professionals offer very much reduced subs for support staff in their areas. Typical is the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), where contributions are £20.82 a month for qualified midwives but just £8.99 for maternity support workers. 


Outside the health sector, the FBU firefighters’ union offers lower rates for retained firefighters and volunteers, co-operative union NACO does so for contract staff, pilots’ union BALPA has reduced rates for non-pilot members and the URTU transport union has them for non-driver members (such as warehouse workers).


Around half of unions have lower-rate subs for workers while they are trainees and/or earning at the lower end of their scale. This includes many with members who undergo professional training at the start of their careers such as Nautilus (maritime professionals), RCM, SCP (chiropodists and podiatrists), CSP (physiotherapists), BDA (dieticians), BALPA and the NEU, NASUWT and UCAC teaching unions. It also includes UNISON and general unions Unite and the GMB who have lower rates for apprentices. Several also offer free (or very low-priced) membership to full-time students.


A more modern addition to the suite of subscription rates offered by the union movement is reduced or free contributions for members during periods of family leave or career breaks. 


Accord, whose membership is two-thirds female, is particularly generous, providing a subscription-free period of membership for up to 12 months for members who take maternity or adoption leave, as long as they have been in membership for 12 months. 


The Napo union for probation staff also has a period of free membership for those on maternity or paternity leave.


UCAC offers half-price membership for those on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave and the CSP rate for those on career breaks or parental leave is less than half the union’s standard rate. At the Nationwide Group Staff Union, the maternity rate is just £2.15 per month, compared with a standard rate of £11. 


Other unions with reduced-price membership in this area are the Prospect professionals’ union, the NASUWT and the AEP educational psychologists’ union.