What your union dues do for you
"District Council 37 dues are one of
the best investments you'll ever make."
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(PDF format*) |
 Unions raise pay  2002 dues allocation  2002 DC 37 budget |
By Mark Rosenthal, Treasurer, DC 37
Nobody likes to see money taken from their paycheck. But your union
dues are one of the best investments you'll ever make. Think about
it:
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Union members generally earn 25 percent higher pay than non-unionized employees who do the same work, says the U.S. Department of Labor.
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Compared to non-union employees, unionized workers also get better benefits - such as health insurance, guaranteed pensions, prescription drug cards, eye glasses and tuition reimbursement. According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank, this "union premium" plus the salary difference gives union members a whopping 39 percent more in total compensation.
As treasurer, my job is to make sure your
dues are properly spent. Together with our annual audit (see page
14 of PEP, Oct. issue), I thought it would be appropriate to explain
in everyday language how your dues are used.
The lion's share of your dues—over
50 percent—goes toward
DC 37's operating budget—$34.1
million in 2002.
Building and general expenses constitute the greatest share of our
budget. These expenditures—including
maintenance, security, telephone services, data processing, payroll
taxes, benefits and insurance- make it possible for union locals
and DC 37 staff to do their job for you.
From grievances to contracts
Over a fifth of the budget goes for our six field divisions. Union
reps in the divisions handle the grievances and job-related problems
of our school, hospital, clerical-administrative, blue-collar, white-collar
and professional members.
The executive office, led by DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts,
constitutes 13 percent of the budget. Ms. Roberts and her staff
work closely with your chief elected officers (president, secretary
and myself, the treasurer) and your local leaders to make sure members
are serviced aggressively. They craft strategy to win contracts,
strengthen our involvement with community allies and forge political
ties.
As public employees, our jobs depend on elected officials and legislators
who are committed to healthy government. Your Political Action and
Legislation Dept. mobilizes members to help elect sympathetic politicians,
fights for funding of government programs and promotes the passage
of pro-worker legislation, such as the historic pension cost-of-living
adjustments we won recently.
Staff in the Research and Negotiations Dept. does critical policy
analysis and works closely with unit bargaining committees to shape
the contracts that determine the pay and working conditions of our
125,000 members.
The Public Employee Press is mailed to the home of every DC 37 family
to keep you informed about union news and activities. PEP and the
union's Web site, radio show, media outreach and public relations
campaigns put a positive face on the work of the union and its members,
promote our political agenda, expose abuses at job sites and instill
pride among members for the vital work they do.
Our Legal Dept. makes up 6.4 percent of the budget. Your lawyers
handle grievance arbitrations, draft proposed legislation and take
on important legal battles, such as the fight to protect members
from being displaced by workfare. Health and Safety staff inspect
job sites, develop educational material and press government to
enforce safety regulations.
Other budget areas include Quality of Work Life, Human Resources,
printing, mailing, accounting and immigration.
Some 16.5 percent of your dues go to AFSCME, our parent union, which
represents us in Washington and organizes public employees nationwide
to strengthen us politically. In New York, AFSCME's six councils
with 400,000 members work together on a common political agenda
to ensure funding for government programs. The remaining one third
of dues goes to your local for lobbying and other member services.
So, next time you're scrutinizing the deductions from your paycheck,
I hope you will agree with me that your dues represent a good investment.
Coupled with the DC 37 Health and Security Plan's independent budget,
which is based upon city contributions that the union wins at the
bargaining table - your dues fund a range of services that have
set the gold standard for unions across the country.
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