POLICY ON STMC MEMBERS CLASSIFICATION (2019)

OBJECTIVES

– To encourage member’s active participation on all coop activities

– To comply with members duties and responsibilities as define in Section 3 of STMC By-laws.

 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Performance Year – refers to the covered time where the member’s participation is being assessed. Cut-off would be at the last day of the fiscal year which is every December 31.

Assessment Period– refers to the time wherein the coop staff will be classifying the members. Target announcement of the new classification is every third week of February.

Effectivity of Classification – refers to the time wherein the members enjoy their new classification with reference to the results announced by the coop.

GUIDELINES

Members of STMC will be classified into four categories based on their Performances on a yearly basis. The membership classifications are Platinum, Gold, Silver & Bronze.

Platinum member is the one with

• At least Five (5) years members of STMC
• With at least 200k paid up capital
• No delinquency for the past three (3) years
• Has attended the last two (2) General Assembly meeting
• Participated two (2) education program for the year
• Participated the last two (2) election
• At least 5k savings deposit
• Had patronize STMC product and services at least 150k for the year

Gold member is the one with

• At least three (3) years members of STMC
• With at least 100k paid up capital
• No delinquency for the past two (2) years
• Has attended at least one (1) of the last two (2) General Assemblies
• Participated in one (1) education program for the year
• Has participated the last two (2) elections
• At least 3k savings deposit
• Patronize STMC product and services for at least 100k for the year

Silver member is the one with

• At least Two (2) year active members of STMC
• With at least 50k paid up capital
• No delinquency for one (1) year
• Has attended at least one (1) of the last two (2) General Assemblies
• At least 1K savings deposit
• Patronize STMC product and services for at least 50k for the year

Bronze member is the one with

• Less than two (2) years member of STMC
• With at least 1k paid up capital
• Below 1k or no savings deposit
• Below 50k Patronage on STMC products and services

Procedure:

1. The member’s performances for the year will be assessed and classified based on the above qualifications. The classification of each member will be good for one year based on their performance of the previous year. Effectivity will start after the annual re-assessment every first quarter of the succeeding year.
2. Measurement cut-offs and exceptions are defined on each criteria or parameter.
   

   	Coverage of assessment	Coverage of assessment
   Years of Membership	Start on the date of membership with STMC.For members who availed of the re-membership program, the date of re-membership will be used.	None
   Share capital	Paid-up share capital amount at the last day of fiscal year, i.e., December 31.	None
   Member’s payment profile	Period covering the last three (3) performance years (including the performance year being assessed)	Employees on maternity leave* and also those on prolonged sick leave* of at least 15 days (including those on bed rest due to pregnancy). Note: * – subject for verification with the clinic > Delayed payments will be accepted and will not considered delinquent if settled within 3 months from the due date.
   Attendance to General Assembly (GA)	Attendance to Regular and Special GA are counted. In case only one GA is held during the performance year being assessed, the last held GA prior the performance year being assessed will be considered.	Employees on maternity leave* and also those on prolonged sick leave* of at least 15 days (including those on bed rest due to pregnancy). Note: * – subject for verification with the clinic Members with emergency cases are subject to BOD approval.
   Active participation in education program	a) Member is required to attend at least 1 e-learning session b) Attendance of member or his dependent to any of the following: coop training, livelihood programs, COOP hour, CSR programs	None
   Participation in Election	Participation in election of officers and bylaws amendments are counted.	None
   Savings deposit	Must have savings account, minimum of P500 on the last day of the fiscal year.	None

   
   Rebate

   Rebate computation is: Rebate % X the total paid interest on loans paid by the member from January to December of the performance year.

   The rebate percentage (%) is subject to annual review of the Board of Directors depending on the cooperative performance.

    

   The rebate will be given during dividend payout where member should still be an active COOP member to be eligible for the rebate.
   

    

   One of the objectives of the membership classification is to reward the COOP member for his performance as member, compliance to its rules and regulations, participation in its activities and patronage to COOP’s products and services. Thus, this scheme is a privilege and not a right of COOP members.
   

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Is it possible for a member to enjoy a superior classification this year, like Platinum, but go down to a lower level, like Bronze, in the next year?

Answer: Yes. As the classification is assessed annually, each member can either go up or down the ladder depending on the performance of the previous year.

What if a member only lacks one criteria for a specific level, can he be considered for that classification?

Answer: No, we need to satisfy all the requirements. Otherwise this will defeat the purpose of the Membership Classification.

Given that most trainings, like livelihood seminars, are not tailored to 100% of the general membership, how can this criteria be satisfied by some members?

Answer: Attendance to e-learning sessions, COOP hour and CSR programs are also considered part of the education programs. However, one mandatory requirement for the membership classification is that the COOP member participates in at least 1 e-learning session. Furthermore, each member is allowed to have his dependents (parents, spouse, siblings and children) attend the livelihood seminars being offered. Their attendance will be credited to the coop membership classification.

Given that the only benefit is rebate, can this be called Patronage Classification Program?

Answer: Technically, it can be called as such, however, going back to the objective, the scheme was designed to promote performance, compliance, participation and patronage. Also, we must emphasize that there are other criteria which must be satisfied to get a higher ranking – not just the “Patronage of coop services.”

Though the current reward is in the form of rebate, other perks may be studied in the future.

At the middle of the year, can a member be stripped-off of his membership classification?

Answer: Yes. Should a member be proven to have committed a violation of ethical standards, the Board-of-Directors with the help of the Ethics and Mediation Committees, has the right to remove a member from his current classification.

Can the Bronze member run for an officer position in the Coop elections?

Answer: Yes. Given that the bronze member has the same benefits and rights as the previous category of “Regular Member,” he can vote and run for an officer position in the cooperative. Of course, a member still has to meet the defined qualifications set by the Election Committee to run for a specific post.

For your information.

STMC Management