A new campaign to have all Idaho Education Association members pay their membership dues via an electronic bank draft or personal credit card — as opposed to payroll deduction — kicked off last weekend as part of IEA’s 2024 Delegate Assembly in Boise.
IEA Autopay is a proactive effort to fight against anti-public education politicians’ efforts to eliminate the ability of union members to pay their membership dues through payroll deduction — with the intent to shrink membership and weaken the union. It’s a union-busting tactic that has had success in states like Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Anti-public education lawmakers in Idaho are expected to introduce such legislation in 2025. In fact, a provision to strip IEA members of their ability to pay membership dues via payroll deduction was originally included in an unsuccessful union-busting bill during the recently adjourned 2024 legislative session.
“Every member that waits to switch to IEA AutoPay leaves our union vulnerable to these attacks each legislative session” said Eliza Walton, an IEA organizer spearheading the IEA AutoPay campaign. “By switching to IEA AutoPay, members can remove this threat altogether rather than being forced to defend against attacks like this each legislative session.”
LEARN MORE OR CONVERT TO IEA AUTOPAY HERE
Designed to be simple and easy, switching to IEA AutoPay only takes a few minutes and does not add any additional fees to your membership dues. To complete the switch, members will need their membership number and the ZIP code on file with IEA. Members will also need their banking information (routing and account numbers) or credit card information. Please email autopay@idahoea.org with any questions about converting or your membership number.
Members can switch to IEA AutoPay for the upcoming 2024-25 membership year until Aug. 31. Those who miss this deadline must wait until next year to switch to IEA AutoPay. Those who do switch to IEA AutoPay before Aug. 31 will continue to pay their dues through payroll deduction until the end of the current membership year, which ends in September.
Many IEA members are already using IEA AutoPay and those who recently made the switch report that it was very easy, according to Walton. She encourages those members to join in the effort to convince their colleagues to switch. A link to an easily-printable IEA AutoPay flier for break rooms and bulletin boards can be found here.
“To those who already use IEA AutoPay — THANK YOU! You have taken a crucial step to protect your union membership.” Walton said. “But you are not done: You can support our campaign to switch every IEA member to IEA AutoPay by talking with other members about why you made switching to IEA AutoPay a priority.”