Who's affected

This affects everyone: A “union” shop and mandatory dues

One Company. Many Voices. One Goal.

The union organizers state that employees can decline representation by the union. What they left out is that these same employees may still have to pay mandatory dues. This is called union security, also known as a union shop. Under a union shop, ALL employees (except those who are exempt, which at the moment includes only supervisors) must pay dues. Dues would be 1.678 percent of your gross salary. If you fall behind in paying your dues, then the guild can insist that the company terminate your employment.

Here’s how a union shop works at some newspapers, and how the issue held up negotiations at other newspapers:

¨ The Chronicle’s union shop clause in its contract reads as follows: “All Employees shall apply for membership in the Guild. In the event of failure to become a member no later than thirty (30) days from the start of his/her employment, or thirty (30) days from the effective date of the Agreement in effect at the time of the start of his/her employment and providing for union membership as a condition of employment, whichever is later, the employee shall upon formal notice from the Guild be discharged. All employees who as of such date are or become members of the Guild shall remain members in good standing during the term of this agreement, and for failure to do so shall be discharged upon formal notice from the Guild. This provision does not apply to employees hired before January 1, 1963, and who have not subsequently become members of the Guild.” (More about provisional clauses.)

What does this mean? Essentially, if you don’t join the guild in 30 days, you’re fired. If you aren’t in good standing (don’t pay your dues), you’re fired. And you can remain exempt through a grandfather clause only if you haven’t since decided to join the guild. Once you do that, you’re in for the rest of your employment at the that paper. (By the way, signing a card showed an intent to join and the union representatives at the bargaining table can argue that grandfathering should not be granted to these employees.)

¨ The papers in St. Paul, Denver and San Jose all have contracts with union shop clauses, but they also have a provision for a SMALL percentage of exemptions. Take San Jose, for example. The company is allowed to exempt one employee for every 75 employees. The others must join the union and pay dues or they will be terminated.

¨ Monterey has a non-union shop (often referred to as “open” shop). This means they join the union and pay dues voluntarily. Monterey’s contract remained on the table for six years largely because the union refused to budge from its insistence that they have a union shop. Now negotiating a new contract, Monterey is asking for a union shop.

¨ York, Pa., is entering its fourth year of negotiations. The major hang-up is that the company insists on an open shop, while the guild continues to argue for a union shop. The last seven newspapers to unionize and go to the table for a first-time contract (including York, Pa.) have all started negotiations asking for a union shop.

¨ Finally, I’ve also been told by two people who were closely tied to the ANG bargaining unit that had the company not withdrawn recognition of the guild, the union would have pushed for a union shop in the next negotiations. The ANG union had significant trouble getting employees to pay dues — only about 30 percent were paying at the time of the merger.

Personally, I strongly oppose a union shop. Each individual employee should decide for him or herself if what the union is offering is worth the money. For some people, losing $650-$900 a year in dues is a huge blow to their wallets. The organizing group’s position on a union shop is that the membership (majority of employees) will decide, but the groups leaders also have stressed that a union is “only as strong a its numbers.” Plus, let’s not forget that the guild just paid $500,000 on the campaign to unionize our newsroom and they need a means to recoup that money.

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Who’s affected? Union shop and mandatory dues