When a new employee joined the agency, they may have attended an information session and were handed a 'union dues-form' to sign. Once this form was processed, the dues-deductions appeared on their paystub as 'UNION/ASSOCIATION DUES.' Henceforth, $2 were subtracted from their biweekly paystub. Is this employee a POPA member? Unfortunately not. This employee had signed into PTOS (patent and trademark office society.)
POPA is not allowed to hand such forms to new members, and our dues are $5 a biweek. However, POPA dues are also listed as 'UNION/ASSOCIATION DUES' on the paystub. POPA has requested for PTOS to receive its own paystub label, so that agency employees are no longer confused, but the agency has not changed it.
For now, the best way for you to doublecheck if you're a POPA member or not is to see if you are paying $2 or $5 in 'UNION/ASSOCIATION DUES.' If it's $5, then you're all set! If not, and you wanted to be a POPA member, you can submit a form to popamembership@popa.org.