“Members are crying for Numsa membership cards,” says Cedric Gina, shop steward in Richards Bay . “Members who completed the 3-page MEMS forms two years ago have still not received any membership cards.”
For the past three years Numsa has been trying to find out details of all its members – who they are, where they work, where they live, who their beneficiaries are if they die. We gave all members a 3-page MEMS form to fill in. Then Numsa started the long process of entering all this information onto computer.
But the process has not run smoothly. Workers and shop stewards complain that the forms are too long and complicated – “the shop steward gives the form to members, asks for it two days later, the members lose it and then ask for another one,” says Gina.
Sometimes the forms come to the office incomplete, then “I have to check my schedules, then ask the locals”, says Busi Nxaba, membership administrator in KwaZulu Natal. Busi says at times locals take their own time to respond. She then has to contact the companies directly. All of this further delays progress.
However, in the last 6 months, the process has been speeded up. Numsa approached “big companies to supply us with members’ details on a disk, so we could then transfer those details to our system. The response was good. Out of the 20 companies only two gave us problems – Huletts – Kwazulu Natal, Bridgestone Tyres – Eastern Cape,” says Neil Govender , head of Numsa’s IT department.
So far about 77 % of members have been captured onto computer – 50 000 manually and 50 000 electronically. But regions must now still add beneficiaries of each member on to the computer and then every member must check if their details on computer are correct.
“Only once we have between 70-80% of this information verified by locals, will we start to give membership numbers and process membership cards,” says Govender.
We call on all our members please complete all the pages of the MEMS forms! Ask your shopsteward to assist you.
Remember this project can only be a success with your help. If your company has a IT department and does your wages electronically, ask them for a disk of all Numsa members and contact your local office.
Remember, cards will come, once you and the rest of the companies in your local and in the region and across the country have verified that the information we have is correct.
———————————- Note: If you are a motor member and need a membership number for medical aid purposes, contact your nearest local office. ———————————-