The Costs of Union Membership

Unions — especially large unions, which typically employ large paid staffs, maintain elaborate headquarters buildings, offer amenities to executives, and contribute heavily to political campaigns — need funds to operate.

These funds come from members, in the form of dues, fees, fines, and assessments.

Dues

Unions charge members dues, ordinarily a percentage of wages. Though the percentage may be small, it represents hundreds of out of pocket dollars per year for each employee. These are dollars that must be recouped through a combination of wages and benefits that the employer would not otherwise have been willing or able to pay.

Often the dues are removed directly from the member's paycheck, much like taxes, and mailed directly by the company to the international union through a provision called "dues check-off." This arrangement is golden for the Union, and Unions will frequently trade away other contract provisions during negotiations to secure dues check-off.

Minimum dues for the United Auto Workers, as established in the UAW Constitution (Article 16), are equal to two hours of straight time pay per month. However, the same constitution (Article 47) allows the UAW or locals to charge more — to increase or even double the dues based on a variety of unspecified circumstances.

Fees

Unions also customarily charge initiation fees to new members. Sometimes the initiation fees are waived for newly organized groups of workers.

The UAW Constitution specifies an initiation fee of $10-50. This same fee applies for reinstatement should a member be late on paying dues.

Fines

Unions frequently give themselves the right to discipline their own members (see The Obligations of Union Membership). Disciplinary actions can result in fines being imposed upon members.

The UAW Constitution does not specify fines for disciplinary actions; however, it does allow members to be expelled from the union as a result of disciplinary proceedings.

Assessments

Unions also customarily give themselves the power to collect special payments from members — sometimes known as assessments.

The UAW Constitution (Article 16, Section 28) allows the Union to "make special arrangements with respect to the dues schedules established in this Article, where unusual circumstances justify such arrangement."

The Obligations of Union Membership