Not Paying Union Dues

[EMB170Pilot]

At a union airline, can you get fired if you do not want to pay your union dues but do want to work at that airline.

Has this ever happened?

 

[doh]

You do not have to join but you have to pay a fee. I think it is called an association fee or a negotiation fee. It is almost the same amount as the dues. It is for the services you use, ie contract negotiations done on your behalf whether you are a member or not. If you don't pay, eventually the union will garnish your paycheck. I am not sure whether they can have you terminated or not though. You will end up paying the fee and garnishment goes as a bad on your credit rating I believe. If you work for a union carrier, you are best off to cooperate and graduate.

 

[Cardinal]

I think you're IBT747, and pretty much every Teamster contract signed in the past few years has a union security clause, which means that yes, you can get fired for not paying union dues. I have no problem with that. It's like the one kid at your elementary school whose parents won't get him vaccinated "because everybody else is." May smallpox strike him down.

 

[DoinTime]

At a union airline, can you get fired if you do not want to pay your union dues but do want to work at that airline.

Has this ever happened?

Yes it has happened. Were you planning on not paying your dues?

Only spineless, backstabbing, punk*ss, b*tchs try to weasel their way out of paying their share for the very association that provides for them.

 

[PCL_128]

Yeah, what DoinTime said.

 

[TWA Dude]

The fee a non-member pays is called "agency fee" and it's around 85% of full dues. A yearly audit is conducted to determine the exact amount. The union has the obligation to represent even non-members. And as written above, termination is indeed the penalty for non-payment but it's a long process that rarely comes to fruition.

 

[Drill Sgt. Dad]

Forget it! If you don't want to join , you'll still have to pay shop fees. If you refuse to sign for dues checkoff, the union can lagally garnish your wages and collect it, either way you'll pay. Pay a little over each paycheck or all at once and get no paycheck.

 

[ponder]

Plus, we'll key your car if you don't pay your dues!

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Union dies are a tax write-off too.

 

[XJohXJ]

Don't want a union? SkyWest is hiring like crazy. Go there.

 

[sweptback]

Don't want a union? SkyWest is hiring like crazy. Go there.

But then he wouldn't get to fly his sweet 170!

 

[PBRstreetgang]

But then he wouldn't get to fly his sweet 170!

Yeah,
But he will fly an EMB though, the 120 tacowagon. Then the union will get voted in and you will still suck a$$. Just kidding the union will not get voted in (too many $hit eaters like you will vote against) but you will still get to fly the tacowagon and work for the same old stale payscale that the above $hit eaters decided was good enough for flying the tacowagon. You know the company is only making record profits and needs the additional 1 or 2 dollars an hour that would negate the cost of living increases that we have not been getting.
whatever
PBR
P.S. you won't last long enough once the chinese guys figger they can make 10 years wages in a year over here, and your company gets the dorms built for them.

 

[sinkrate]

If the 'Agreement' on your property has an 'Agency Shop' clause you must pay your fees. You are not required to join your union but you must pay the dues. If you do not the result will be your termination of employment.

If your property does not have an 'Agency Shop' clause the answer is trickier. You will not be required to pay as long as you do not join. However, once you join you are hooked. If you stop paying your dues the company may or may not continue to let you work, depending on your particular Agreement.

The big problem for you will come later. At all ALPA properties that have an 'Agency Shop' provision (all the majors and most regionals) the airline can not hire you if you are in bad standing with ALPA. If you are employed by a carrier whose pilot group is represented ALPA - pay your dues. If you stop paying your dues and fall into bad standing you will be stuck at your current carrier. I have sadly watched some pilots miss their opportunity to work for a major because of this.

 

[Lexy]

There is someone that I know of at an unnamed major airline that does not pay dues because he says it is against his religion. But he won't publicly state what he religion is and is always looking for answers regarding the contract. Lot of nerve. Supposedly, he is required to donate the money to charity. Not sure if it is the full amount of the dues would have been or a percentage, also not sure who exactly monitors this. Personally, I think he is a scumbag!

 

[paulsalem]

Only spineless, backstabbing, punk*ss, b*tchs try to weasel their way out of paying their share for the very association that provides for them.

Or somone who does not like unions in general, and does not want anything they provide just because they paid a fee.

 

[mamba20]

Yes it has happened. Were you planning on not paying your dues?

Only spineless, backstabbing, punk*ss, b*tchs try to weasel their way out of paying their share for the very association that provides for them.

While I agree that you should pay your dues, I would argue that ALPA and the teamsters dont really provide for us at the regional level. They don't care one bit about us and it shows.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

While I agree that you should pay your dues, I would argue that ALPA and the teamsters dont really provide for us at the regional level. They don't care one bit about us and it shows.

I disagree quite strongly. What ALPA has failed to do is show the value in 1.95%. In addition, you have failed to take the time to understand what your dues and membership does provide.

But enough about you....

Can you explain in detail what you mean about.. they don't care one bit and it shows....

 

[DoinTime]

Or somone who does not like unions in general, and does not want anything they provide just because they paid a fee.

Unfortunatly you don't have a choice on taking what they provide. You work under the terms and conditions of your local barganing agreement whether you like it not.

In my perfect world Unions would not be neccessary but my perfect world doesn't exist. I didn't take long for me to learn in this buisness that you never take a knife to a gunfight. Everything nice airline pilots across the world enjoy is attributable to Unionization. Everything.

Your training, experience, and dedication mean nothing to a corporate executive. They are looking for the lowest cost worker that can meet an acceptable margin of safety.

 

[TAWS]

EMB 170,

You are bitter about something, but airing it in this forum is retarded and if you are who I think you are, then you already know this. Take up your grievance with the EXCO, unless you are asking a purely hypothetical question.
You live under the contract which they fought to provide, then decide that it doesn't "work for you" at this point, so you're considering not paying your dues? You deserve to be fired and the EXCO should have you fired, especially when we are supposed to show a united front going into negotiations. I hope you realize that his is not the way to do it.

 

[mamba20]

Rez,

I can totally see what your saying so let me make it a little more specific.

I work for a carrier that has a great deal of termoil not only within our own union but with the mainline MEC as well. There are those in our union that feel that they are not represented positivily by our chosen MEC. I myself am getting quite frusterated with them as they have proven to be all bark and no bite. We shot down a concessionary contract offer by management but since then we have heard little about other VERY pressing issues with our company. Not even a "we are working on it" kind of statement from them. Much of what is going on at my carrier has a very negative effect on my future there and my ability to provide properly for my family. The lack of action and unity within not only my MEC but also the constant bickering between ours and mainlines MEC has pushed me to the point where I no longer think that ALPA cares.

I know its not a perfect world and I can go only off of my own experiences at my own carrier. It just seems to me that there is, as always more people thumping their chests then doing anything.

At this point I've pretty much trained my mind to think of my membership dues as nothing more then an insurance policy that should I be fired will give me the right to have a greivance hearing five years after the fact.