An active choice form is a form that employers provide to new employees so they can indicate if they intend to join a union.
In 2019, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) mandated active choice forms through S62A of the Employment Relations Act 2000.
This legislation requires all employers with a collective agreement to provide new employees with an active choice form within the first 10 days of starting their job to provide an opportunity to express interest in joining a union.
Key steps and FAQs for employers
What happens when employees fill in an active choice form?
When employee contact details are clear and they indicate they want to join E tū, we will send them a link to our membership form.
What do employers need to do with active choice forms?
1. Give employees an active choice form and membership form
Frequently, employees assume that by signing the active choice form, they are automatically members of E tū, and fee deductions will start.
This is not the case.
To address this confusion, we propose that you provide both the membership application form and the active choice form to the employee at the same time.
2. Complete all relevant sections on the form
We encourage all employers to complete the section that identifies E tū as the relevant union and your company details before sending this to E tū.
This information is crucial so new workers can be fully informed and so we can assign an organiser to their worksite. We rely on your assistance to make sure we have accurate data.
3. Send all forms to E tū once complete
Once both the employer and employee have completed the active choice form, it is the employer’s responsibility to send this to the union.
Please send all active choice forms and membership forms to mbieform@etu.nz
4. We may contact you if an employee’s details are unclear
If an employee’s details are not clear, we seek to honour their choice to join the union by requesting contact information from you as their employer.
It is important that you continue to send through active choice forms, even if the employee joins immediately, so we can keep records of employers offering this choice.
What happens if employers do not provide employees with an active choice form?
Maximum fines for non-compliance are significant, at $10,000 for an individual or $20,000 for the company/organisation.
Active choice form responses and actions
Combinations of active choice responses and actions to take are below.
For employers with exclusive collective agreements with E tū
| Employee selects yes to joining a union | Send to E tū at mbieform@etu.nz |
| Employee selects no to joining a union | Send to E tū at mbieform@etu.nz |
| Employee selects no to joining a union and specifies they do not want this information shared | Keep form for internal records, do not send any details about this to unions |
| Employee does not return the form within 30 days | Send name of new employee to E tū at mbieform@etu.nz as proof you tried to facilitate the employee to make an active choice |
For employers with a collective agreement with multiple unions
| Employee selects yes to joining a union and does not specify which union | Send to all relevant unions, including E tū at mbieform@etu.nz |
| Employee selects yes to joining a union, specifies which union | Send to all relevant unions. For E tū send to mbieform@etu.nz |
| Employee selects yes to joining a union, specifies which union, selects that they only want their information shared with their chosen union | Send only to union specified by employee. For E tū send to mbieform@etu.nz |
| Employee selects no to joining a union | Send to all relevant unions, including E tū at mbieform@etu.nz |
| Employee selects no to joining a union and specifies they do not want this information shared | Keep form for internal records, do not send any details about this to unions |
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact mbieform@etu.nz We are more than happy to have a call with your team to clarify this further.
Download forms and information
Please send all active choice forms and related correspondence to mbieform@etu.nz for processing.
You are welcome to copy the revelant E tū organiser into emails if you wish.