Making the switch is straightforward online

By John Dixon

While more than 10,000 members have made the switch to direct payment methods, Federation continues to encourage members to make the switch from payroll deduction of their union fees to direct debit or automatic credit card methods of paying their union subscriptions.

Federation has done considerable development work on the union's website to allow members to make the switch online in a secure online environment. The union has teamed up with Commsecure, one of Australia's leading e-payments organisations, to allow members to register for direct debit registrations.

This registration process in a secure encrypted environment allows the individual member to register both their membership details and their financial account details for direct debit. This allows Federation to contact the Department of Education and Training or TAFE payroll section to have your payroll deductions terminated. Once this occurs the Federation then begins to have your fortnightly fees deducted from the financial institution of your choice without interruption to your financiality.

To register online to make the switch go to www.nswtf.org.au/maketheswitch/.

From here simply click on your preferred payment option. If you select direct debit this will take you through to a secure Commsecure web page and enable you to fill out and submit a registration form. This initial registration form will ask you to register an email address and a password. Once registered you will then be sent an email which will ask you to log on to the site where you can complete the direct debit request form.

If you select the automatic credit card option or you would prefer to register for direct debit by paper form you can download a Make the Switch form. Fill this in and fax it back to the Federation's Membership section and it will be processed manually.

Either way the process is straightforward and not only are you protecting yourself against the Federal Government's unfair industrial relations laws, but you are also keeping your union financially strong so it can continue to fight for members and public education.

In addition, changes have been made to the payment gateway on the website that allows members to make one-off payments from their Federation accounts. This is located at: www.members.nswtf.org.au/membership/payment_admin.jsp.

This new process allows members to pay the exact amount shown on their individual accounts, rather than a pre-determined quarterly amount. This is particularly useful for members who are not permanent teachers or those who prefer to pay their fees up front.

Federation will soon contact by email those members who have not made the switch for whom the union has up to date email addresses. This e-newsletter will bring them up to date with the campaign and provide the direct links to the secure web pages for the registration process or the web pages that will allow them to download the necessary forms to fax back to the union to be processed manually.

John Dixon is the Assistant General Secretary (Communications and Administration).

For further information

September 2006 contents