Detroit — United Auto Workers members had been expecting to see their dues reduced as the union’s strike fund recently surged to $850 million, but now they will keep paying the same amount.
The UAW’s approximately 392,000 active members will continue to pay the equivalent of 2.5 hours of pay per week, instead of getting the anticipated reduction to two hours, delegates at the union’s constitutional convention in Detroit decided Tuesday following a contentious debate. Such a reduction could have amounted to around $20 or more a week for many autoworkers, though it would have varied widely depending on industry and position.
Now, instead of a ceiling of $850 million, that strike and defense fund will need to reach $1.3 billion before any dues reduction can take place, according to the changes approved for the union’s constitution.
The controversial dues rules change, meant to keep more money flowing into the union’s war chest, came packaged along with several other major changes as the union seeks to make another aggressive organizing push and secure bigger contracts over the next few years.
Delegates agreed to raise strike pay to $550 a week, from $500 now. They also approved a change that allows the UAW’s International Executive Board to withdraw as much as $100 million from the strike and defense fund over the next four years, up from $60 million now, for purposes such as “major organizing drives” or to “strengthen the UAW’s ability to bargain effectively” and work on other projects that assist the membership, according to the constitutional language.
The Detroit News and other media were not allowed inside the convention hall at Huntington Place for the debates on dues or other key union business discussions — a more restrictive press policy compared to past conventions. The News confirmed the dues and other policy changes from multiple attendees, and obtained a recording of the lengthy debate over dues.
A flyer provided by the union to attendees said the larger $1.3 billion strike fund is needed so the union “can strike at the scale we need for May Day 2028 and beyond,” the date it has aligned its contract expirations for the Detroit Three. The increased $100 million withdrawal cap would help with a big organizing push in the next four years, it said.
“You’ve already reached the threshold,” said Vanessa Wilson, a retiree from UAW Local 155, during the debate, according to the recording. “You’re already taxing people, because you’ve gone months without reducing the dues (after reaching $850 million). I’m from the (parts supplier) sector. Everybody from the (parts) sector doesn’t make the money that the Big Three makes … We’re not making what some of you make, $42 an hour. We have members who make $15 an hour.”
Other attendees indicated they didn’t like the goal posts being moved after anticipating a reduction since the fund recently reached about $850 million. Some flagged concerns with how the $100 million that the union can withdraw from the strike fund would be used.
“Everything we’ve been using this money for is for organizing drives and for bargaining strategies, for example the fight at American Axle recently,” UAW President Shawn Fain said at one point.
The convention continues Wednesday with nominations for the union’s leadership. Fain is expected to face several challengers for the presidency, with an increasingly long list of challengers also expected to vie for the secretary-treasurer role and three vice president seats. Many are also expected to run for the union’s nine regional director positions.
The union’s leadership ranks used to be decided at the convention, but union members secured the right to directly elect their leaders starting in the last election in 2022. Ballots are set to go out in the fall.
lramseth@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: UAW members expecting dues reduction find they will stay the same
Reporting by Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
