Raising union dues doesn't always go over so big among members.
Karl Henkel of the Detroit News reports that the United Auto Workers is considering raising dues 25 percent in coming weeks. It would be the first dues increase since the late 1960s.
The News reports:
The union is considering the hike — from two hours’ worth of an employee’s monthly pay to two-and-a-half hours — to boost the union’s strike fund. The fund once totaled $1 billion but today is down to about $600 million.
For a veteran autoworker making $28 an hour, the increase would cost $14 a month, or $168 a year. Newer union members in the lower $14-an-hour wage tier would pay half that amount.
The News reports that some members aren't happy and have complained that the union has spent millions of strike-fund dollars on such things as fighting the Right to Work law and organizing efforts at Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn. -- Allan Lengel
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