Common Questions About Dues
Questions
- How much more will I be paying if this dues increase passes?
- How does dues money get spent in GEO?
- What are we doing to reduce our costs at GEO ?
- Are those expenses going up? If so, why?
- What are the benefits of being affiliated with AFT and AFT-Michigan, our parent unions?
- Why do we need to raise dues through a vote all of a sudden when my dues have been going up every year anyway?
- Who manages the union's dues money?
Answers
1. How much more will I be paying if this dues increase passes?
If you are a typical member with a 0.5 appointment -- a projected total of about $10 over the next three years. The difference in your dues will depend on your fraction and salary. Next year, under the present dues structure, dues for a 0.50 appointment will be $104.11 per semester. If you pass the bylaw, the dues increase for a 0.5 appointment will equal 0.08% of salary, or less than $6 (see table below). Because of our contractually guaranteed raise, the 0.50 salary will increase almost $450 in that same period of time.
For the difference in dues for all employment fractions, see this table: [html] [pdf].
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2. How does dues money get spent in GEO?
Almost 75% of the budget goes to staffing costs or dues to our parent unions: the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) national and state organizations. The remaining 25% goes to things like legal fees for grievances, printing, and rent for our GEO office space.
For a breakdown of GEO expenses in 2006-07, see this chart.
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3. What are we doing to reduce our costs at GEO ?
We've cut $10,000 in costs from the annual budget, and are more closely tracking other expenses. We continue to search for ways to do this while still carrying out the basic functions of the union. At the same time, we need to increase income to remain financially viable.
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4. Are those expenses going up? If so, why?
Yes! Our dues to parent unions, and our day-to-day expenses are increasing. Like personal expenses, the expenses to run the union, such as staffing, rent and the cost of supplies are always going up because of inflation. This is true for GEO's financial responsibilities as well. But the major expense that is rising has to do with the dues we pay to the AFT at the state and national levels. For years, those parent unions have been subsidizing us, but as an established local, we have to transition into full payment over the next few years. That means we'll owe our parent unions $75,000 more per year than we have been paying in the past. Even though the Finance Committee has found ways to cut $10,000 in operating costs, we still won't have enough to avoid a deficit unless we raise dues.
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5. What are the benefits of being affiliated with AFT and AFT-Michigan, our parent unions?
We get thousands of dollars worth of services, plus many more intangible benefits. Affiliation with the AFT/AFT-Michigan gives us the following: lobbying to put in place candidates and policies that work in our favor; aid in bargaining and grievances from our field representative; legal advice and protection, and payment for 2/3 of all of our legal expenses; and tax-exempt status. In addition, we benefit from being part of a strong labor movement in Michigan and nationwide.
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6. Why do we need to raise dues through a vote all of a sudden when my dues have been going up every year anyway?
If we don't take action now, we'll be heavily in debt in just three years. To date, our dues have been a percentage of each of our salaries. As we negotiate better raises, and as the size of the GEO bargaining unit increases, we have been able to pull in enough dues to stay afloat. However, since our dues percentage has stayed constant for over ten years, and will not pull in enough income to deal with this sudden rise in dues owed our parent unions. In order to prevent this from happening now or in the future, we must change not only the amount of GEO dues we each pay, but also the process by which our dues rise to keep up with increases in the AFT and AFT-Michigan's dues. That process is called "pass through" dues. To authorize "pass-through" dues, we need to update our constitution, and to update the constitution, we need a full-membership vote.
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7. Who manages the union's dues money?
Participation in the Finance Committee is open to any and all GEO members. The Finance Committee, which is chaired by GEO's Treasurer, manages GEO's income by creating the yearly budget and supporting the monthly bill-paying work of the Financial Manager, who is on staff at the GEO office. The Treasurer is an elected position for which any Steward can run. Ultimately, it's the Stewards' Council, which represents all GEO members, that is responsible for authorizing financial management decisions.
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