Joining Unite

Unite is Britain's biggest union with two million members in every type of workplace. Unite was formed by a merger between two of Britain's' leading unions, the T&G and Amicus.

Reasons why you should join Unite...

• better pay
• longer holidays
• safety in the workplace
• greater job security
• individual representation
• free legal advice
• safety in numbers
• membership benefits

Unite offers representation and advice at work. Members may face work problems that need to be resolves, or have a grievance to bring against employers. UNITE workplace reps and/or full-time Regional Officers provide members with advice and support and have access to an array of resources. Reps are trained in workplace issues and have a great deal of individual expertise and experience.

• Unite also trains health and safety representatives at your place of work who will monitor conditions daily.
• Unite members have legal protection for cases such as unfair dismissal, insolvency, discrimination and harassment. Unite can take up your legal case at no cost to you.

There is a section for our sector here on the national Unite website. Anyone in the IT industry can join Unite regardless of grade, job, contract type or length of service.

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Subs rates (from September 2012)

The Main Membership Categories are:

Core membership

Core membership means you'll get:

• legal assistance and advice from specialists
• access to the 24-hour legal helpline
• dispute or lock-out benefit of £30 a day from day one of the dispute (up to a maximum of £150 per calendar week)
• victimisation benefit of up to 26 weeks of financial assistance
• help with funeral costs of between £100 and £400 depending on length of membership

Core full time

£2.78 per week or £12.05 per month
members aged 18 and older, normally working 21 or more hours a week, and who aren't in a formal apprenticeship programme

Core part time

£1.39 per week or £6.02 per month (10 – 20 hours per week)
members aged 18 and older, normally working over 10 hours but less than 21 hours per week, and who aren't in a formal apprenticeship programme

Core and ancillary membership

What are Unite ancillary benefits? In addition to your basic Unite membership, you can also opt to pay extra for ancillary benefits including:

• incapacity – £12.80 a week for up to 10 weeks
• maternity and adoption – £12.80 a week for up to 10 weeks
• paternity – £12.80 a week for up to 2 weeks
• fatal accident
• £7,750 if accident at work
• £5,500 if accident not at work
• loss of limb or eye or permanent disability from accident at work of between £2,450 – £4,900 depending upon severity
• convalescense – up to two weeks' stay at Unite's Eastbourne facility (once in every 24 month period) plus the cost of your return train fare

Core and ancillary full time

£2.93 per week or £12.70 per month
members, as above, who opt to pay a little extra enabling access to ancillary (additional) benefits, to support you at times of change in your life

Core and ancillary part time

£1.47 per week or £6.37 per month (10 – 20 hours per week)
members, as above, who opt to pay extra for the ancillary (additional) benefits

Apprentices

• Year 1: £0.56 per week or £2.43 per month
• Year 2: £1.11 per week or £4.81 per month
• Year 3: £1.67 per week or £7.24 per month
• Year 4: £2.22 per week or £9.62 per month

(Only Core available) If you are not yet in full employment, but are in training then Unite's apprentices' membership will suit you best. If you are on an officially certified apprenticeship programme, the apprentice rate allows you the benefits of Unite membership - at a reduced rate while you train. For the 12 months, you pay only 20 per cent of core full time rate. The rate rises gradually with every year of your apprenticeship. Only at the end of the 60 months of your officially certified apprenticeship programme, or the date of leaving your officially certified apprenticeship programme will you be required to pay 100 per cent of the core full time rate.

Special discounted rate categories £0.50 per week or £2.17 per month

There are also categories for those who qualify for the discounted membership rate. These are:

• members under 18
• members not working who are in full time higher or further education
• unemployed members of the community
• members who are volunteers
• members who normally work less than 10 hours per week
• members who are unemployed, or who have been prevented from working on medical grounds, or are on maternity/ paternity leave
• retired members
• permanently disabled members who are not in paid employment

People working at Fujitsu generally pay monthly by Direct Debit.

Every member chooses whether to be "Contracted In" or "Contracted Out". "In" means you pay into the union's "political fund" (allowing Unite to use the money to lobby parliament, etc. when campaigning for peoples rights), and "Out" means you don't. Being contracted in only costs a few pence, and we encourage people to contribute - after all, employers use every means to lobby for their interests!

The subs rates above are the Contracted In rate - members who opt out of paying into the political fund will be excused the small amount that is the contribution.

If you wish to opt-out of the political levy, then a form (pdf format) is available here.

The Political Fund is 14p weekly and 61p monthly.

Union subs represent extraordinarily good value - the free legal representation alone recovers tens of millions of pounds a year for members - almost as much as the union's entire subs income.

Many members pay by Direct Debit or through payroll ("checkoff") and shouldn't need to take any action. Head office should directly contact anyone who needs to take action to increase their payments.

If you are leaving Fujitsu and want to know what you can do about your membership, see here for information.