Even the worst attacks can have a silver lining – Australia’s journey from payroll deductions to opportunity
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On-demand webinar available here: http://bit.ly/2jBJ6te In a time of drastic change in the labor space, isn’t it time we heard a story of hope? Join us as we sit down with John Dixon, General Secretary at New South Wales Teachers Federation (NSWTF). He’ll tell his story of the challenges the organization faced when losing payroll deductions and how they overcame them.
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Even the worst attacks can have a silver lining – Australia’s journey from payroll deductions to opportunity
- 1. Even the worst attacks can have a silver lining – Australia’s journey from payroll deductions to opportunity Guest Speaker John Dixon, General Secretary, New South Wales Teachers Federation (NSWTF) Hosted by Kyle Bazzy, Director of Growth, Billhighway and Ron Krouse, Senior Advisor, Billhighway January 18th, 2017
- 2. Learning Objectives 01 Summarize Challenges What happened in Australia to force changes in labor (right to work, loss of payroll, etc.) 02 NSWTF Response How did NSWTF respond to these unfavorable political moves? 03 Impact on Members How did losing collective bargaining and payroll deductions impact the culture and mindset of the organization? 04 Advice Words of wisdom for labor unions in the US Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 3. John Dixon • General Secretary of the NSW Teachers Federation since 7/23/14 • Worked as an elected officer of the union for thirty years • Won several ACTU Media and Communications Awards • Influential in the development of the Union's online presence Why We’re Qualified Kyle Bazzy • Director of Growth, Billhighway • Proud Detroiter Ron Krouse • Senior Advisor, Billhighway • 40 years of experience working with Labor Unions
- 4. Union is coming up to its Centenary of existence in 2018 Largest branch of the Australian Education Union Membership dues are controlled by the state branch NSWTF has 70,000 members AEU has 250,000 members nationwide Consists of 167 local teachers associations, but they don’t bargain Lost payroll deductions twice in their history Payroll deductions = 65% of membership base, but dues processed by payroll = over 80% of total income NSW Teachers Federation
- 5. “One of my worst days as a Union Activist was to get all of the Officers’ and staff and tell them that unless “we” could get an invoice out before Christmas we would be laying off half of the staff by the end of January.”
- 6. What happened in Australia to force changes in labor? Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 7. How did NSWTF respond to these unfavorable political moves? Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 8. What were some of the initial reactions from leaders in NSWTF? Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 9. How did losing payroll deductions impact the culture and mindset of the organization? Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 10. What was the impact on members, and the services they received? Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 11. What drove the decision to turn down payroll deductions? Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 12. The mindset • The campaign had to correlate with our ‘your rights at work campaign’ • As an attack on their individual job security • As an attack on their right to be protected • As an attack on the collective strength of the Union to argue for future salary increases and working conditions The “Switch Campaign” Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 13. The risk of reliance on payroll deductions (PRD) • The employer has control of the process; unions particularly public sector unions are exposed • Devastating impact on Victorian public sector unions after Kennett promptly withdrew PRD – the Vic teacher union is still recovering over a decade later • Lack of preparation = lack of ability to quickly switch and re-sign members • WA & SA teacher unions declined offer by Labor Governments to reinstate PRD • Other unions have stopped offering PRD and are actively switching members to other payment methods The “Switch Campaign”
- 14. Payment method breakdown before the switch • 64% members coded as PRD • 5% members coded as direct debit (Teachers Credit Union) • 31% members coded as ‘Invoice’ • These members pay their fees by: • Pay by phone (credit card), BPay, Online payment via our website, Cash or cheque The “Switch Campaign” 84% PRD represents over 84% of our membership subscription income
- 15. Our Target in 2006 is: • To move over 60% of our PRD members to Direct Debit or Auto credit card payment Our Target by mid-2007 is: • To have 90% of our PRD members on Direct Debit or Auto credit card payment The “Switch Campaign” Have a question? Enter your question in the chat
- 16. Direct Debit Implementation • All officers and staff to be trained in DD procedures and frequently asked questions • March Council we will brief/train 300 Councilors • Align DD with pay day to mimic PRD – less bounces • All member information to be 128-bit encrypted for online transaction to world best practice; plus our record on privacy of member records • We will generate a statement each financial year for members to claim tax deduction • All new re-designed membership forms have removed option of PRD • We have run two trial programs to pre-test and refine “make the switch” forms and information for current members with organisers to get feedback and modifications The “Switch Campaign”
- 17. Major upgrade to online payment gateway • This will allow members to initiate direct debit or direct credit card payment for new and existing members 24 hours / 7 days per week • Allow members to make one-off payments in response to invoice generated by paper or email • Allow new members to join with one-off payment • It will allow members to update their details in a secure environment The “Switch Campaign”
- 18. Phase one: Pre-trial • Each PSU organiser to select two workplaces • Organise visit (this may invoice pre-visit with Fed Rep) • Intensive ‘follow-up’ of individual members by phone or email to complete forms Phase one: Pre-trial evaluation • Feedback from Organisers and other officers • Evaluation of numbers, what additional material or information we need • Production of ‘new’ print material and journal stories* The “Switch Campaign”
- 19. Phase Two: Trial • Launch at March Council – training/briefing of all Councillors • We have to take it in stages – there are 29,000 members to convert to meet 2006 target Phase Three: Roll-out to all members • The ‘Roll-out’ could include all or any combination of: The “Switch Campaign” • Letters/email to members • Kits to Fed Reps • Extensive follow-up by organisers • Training in all TUT courses of Fed Reps • Organisers to train activists at Association level
- 20. PRD Members - Hints • Most important information is: • Name on Bank account, bank account number and bank branch or credit card number and expiry date • Next is mobile phone number and email address – especially for follow up by organisers or membership staff • If necessary get them to ring their bank to get the account number • This campaign is EVERYONE’S responsibility! The “Switch Campaign”
- 21. THE RESULTS As of January 2017… Union deductions not on payroll
- 22. Have a question? Enter your question in the chat Words of advice
- 23. Conclusion
Editor's Notes
- Kyle can cover these
- John - you can speak in greater detail about how you got started Hello, I’m John Dixon I am currently the General Secretary of the NSW Teachers Federation. I have worked as an elected officer of the union for thirty years. I started as an Organiser for casual and unemployed teachers and student teachers. Then I became the Membership Officer, then Deputy Secretary, Communications and Administration looking after the running of the union and its communication channels including the Web and IT Systems. I have both front of house and back of house experience as the Union’s General Secretary.
- John, can you give us some history on NSWTF? The Federation has lost payroll deductions twice in our history, once in the 1970’s and once in the 1990’s both at the hands of conservative state governments. Both times it nearly crippled the union BUT we were slow learners and on both occasions our reaction was to fight to get payroll deductions back by either legal or political means. In the 1970’s the then government had been unsuccessful at having the NSWTF de-registered due to our perceived militancy. When that action failed they merely refused to deduct payroll deductions from our members. It almost bankrupted the union for the next three years. Payroll deductions were not reinstated until we had a change of state government to the Labor party. Who not only reinstated payroll deductions but gave us access to the industrial court and inserted a ‘preference for unionist clause’ in our Industrial Awards. The preference clause read if two teachers going for a position then the union member had preference for the position. The union immediately gained amnesia. However, it did in that time carry one rule change. Its six months reserve rule that puts aside enough final reserves to guarantee six months of operation without union subscriptions. The second time we lost deductions was in 1994 just before Christmas. The then Minister of Education without warning cut off deductions in the midst of a salaries strike ad campaign. As the then Acting Deputy Secretary-campaigns I knew we had instantly won the campaign as I knew the Minister had overplayed his hand and our members would rally. The membership officer part of me went to the bathroom to throw-up as I knew that the big summer deduction cheque would not be arriving to fund the union over the next six week simmer break. Payroll deductions whilst representing about 65% of our membership base, Income wise it was over 80%. Of our income!!
- At that time 80% of our income was via payroll deductions Keep in mind, this was one of my worst days…we’ll dive into the story in a little bit
- John, give us some history on right to work and the loss of payroll that Australia experienced The Conservatives Federally were in power from 2006 -2007. Howard government was in power 1996- 2007. Howard was re-elected in 2004 And the 'Work Choices' legislation in November 2005. The Federation lost Union dues deductions in 1994 ( and in the mid 1970's) at the hands of conservative government each time we fought to get the provision back. It took as over a decade to decide to move to direct debits .We did not launch our switch campaign until march of 2006 in the wake of the introduction of the Federal Work choices legislation - i will explain this history briefly in the webinar - Payroll for deductions for union dues effectively ‘outlawed’ in the Federal jurisdiction - While the majority of our members are covered for the moment under the state and award system – no guarantee that this will continue following the state election - Federal government through hostile funding requirements may force state government to cede power to Federal jurisdiction
- In the short-term? In the long-term? Both times it nearly crippled the union BUT we were slow learners and on both occasions our reaction was to fight to get payroll deductions back by either legal or political means.
- How did that play a role in guiding the organization forward? Tap into emotional reactions
- Unfortunately this resulted in our members paying twice and it took us six to nine months to reconcile and refund the monies owed. It showed me the inadequacies of our then membership system and our administrative procedures in crisis. Our membership system would not allow us easily to re-code the cash payers back to payroll deductions. We then vowed to get a membership system that was more than a financial / accounting system and was a real C.R.M. that gave us rich data about our members. That was an eight year journey before we were in a technical position to launch an effective campaign
- When a favorable political party came back into power and tried to grant back payroll deductions back to NSWTF… It wasn’t until 2005 when the re-elected Howard conservative government had control of both Federal Houses of Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate looked like getting through harsh Thatcher style “Work Choices” legislation that we realised that losing payroll deductions at source was a real possibility again.
- So, in the second half of 2005 we planned to launch a major new campaign “The Switch Campaign” it aimed to get our members to switch from payroll deductions to direct debit or auto-credit from their bank account directly to the union. In 2006 we rolled out a major campaign called the “Switch Campaign” – we were overly ambitious !! in terms of converting people to Direct debit (the following are slides from the campaign in 2006)
- In the medium to long term this represents a substantial to extreme risk to the Union and its ability to campaign or even exist The numbers: 48, 474 members coded as PRD 3,239 members coded as direct debit 23,499 members coded as ‘Invoice’
- * Info from other unions is what stories + picture of real members who have switch payment works best
- 300 Councillors’ workplaces represents potentially over 6,000 members to switch
- Best practices for gathering info from users
- We moved 43% of our membership base or 32,000 members
- Question: Looking back at the time of transition and the challenges that NSWTF has had to overcome, what words of advice would you give to any of your brothers and sisters in the US that are currently going through a turbulent time?
- Answer any additional questions