top
California
California
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Removed from job! Over Unaffordable Union Dues?

by a TG person
"Failure to reinstate will cause you to be removed from your job" This is how my labor union treats it's members.
640_photo_1_-2.jpg
"Suspended membership" Reinstatement fees? "Plus owe other unexplained charges. "Removed from job" Off-the-Job letter etc...

I will be removed from my job because union dues are to expensive?

Are labor unions firing poor and underpaid workers simply because they cannot afford Union dues? If so then it is my opinion that labor unions are NOT putting Americans back to work.

Every week I get Notice of Suspension letters from the labor union.

I was laid-off in 2009 from a career job. I got part time jobs here and there until in December 2010 when I was offered a part time courtesty clerk at a local grocery store. I was made aware that i would be required to join a union if hired, but was not told the costs of the membership. I was also not told I had to contact the union within 30 days of being hired.

I finally contacted the union and filled out the paperwork. I put $60 dollars down, even though that was my grocery money. Then I got the bill. I have attached it as a pic.It was like a car payment. $73.00 for 9 months is what I would have to pay

I would end up paying over $700.00 in Union dues just to keep a minimum wage courtesy clerk job.

Also at that same store they have an open schedule policy which means you have to be available to work at the times and days they give you or you would be fired. So I had to give up a second job to work at that one job.

That courtesy clerk job is the ony job I have.

I have three college degrees, I am a military vet, and I still cannot get a job that will employ me full time.

I took the part time jobs because I was told they would lead to something better, but so far they have not, and two years after my initial lay-off I will be unemployed again, and will become homeless.

The pictures are snippets from the letters and bills from the labor union. I get leters everyweek that threathen to remove me from job unless come up with hundreds of dollars.
§Union dues payment list looked like a car payment
by a TG person
640_photo_4_.jpg
§Removed from my job as a Courtesy Clerk?
by a TG person
640_photo_1_.jpg
§Pus other unexplained charges?
by a TG person
640_photo_1_-1.jpg
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Solidarity
This union is nothing but a company gang extracting its bribe to do the bidding of the capitalist class, better known as the labor lieutenants of capitalism. Perhaps you can find an attorney to sue this phony union for depriving you of your minimum wage job because they demanded exorbitant union dues.

Here is some information on the UFCW:
From: http://www.unionfacts.com/unions/unionProfile.cfm?id=56
Basic Facts
Total Assets: $ 157,341,257
Members TEST: 1,310,474
Employees: 559
Employees earning over $75,000: 189
Total Political Funds: $ 2,511,238
ULPs Filed Since 2000: 2,031
Decertification Petitions Filed: 300

UFCW's Well-Funded Officers

In 2004, a longtime leader of UFCW Local 1776 said, "I think salaries are a problem. They're too low for too many people, but too high for a few." That same year:

■The International union headquarters paid former president Doug Dority more than $700,000 in salary and benefits.

■The International paid $309,000 to retired executive vice president Sarah Amos and another $256,000 to retired International executive vice president Michael Leonard -- again, as salary.

■262 UFCW officials across the country made more than $100,000 in salary.

Historical Low Points

UFCW leaders have faced allegations of extorting businesses and misusing their members' dues for lavish lifestyles:


■In late 2005, the former assistant to the president of UFCW International, Joseph DiFlumera, was sentenced for mail fraud, racketeering, and extorting more than $1.5 million from a grocery chain. DiFlumera told prosecutors that he would offer an "insurance policy" that allowed a company to "come under the umbrella" of protection from union organizing. DiFlumera "repeatedly advised these individuals that the monies paid to him were handed over to the president of Local 1445 and the UFCW. The defendant insisted that if these monies were not paid by the company the company would suffer extreme economic harm."

■Former UFCW International Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Talarico pled guilty to his role in embezzling $2 million from Local 1. He was ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution. In related indictments for defrauding UFCW, his son was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to repay $81,000 in embezzled funds; his daughter was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to repay $26,000; and his brother pled guilty to embezzling $650,000 from the union. Together, the four family members made more than $1 million in salaries from the local in 1996.


■In 1993, Newsday reported that UFCW founder William Wynn traveled in a $5 million union-owned jet plane and sold his house to the union for $620,000 (nearly twice the appraised price) -- and continued to live there for at least three years. The paper reported that in addition to Wynn's salary of $263,000 ($346,000 adjusted for inflation), he was reimbursed for $80,000 in expenses the previous year. It further noted that a reformer seeking to unseat Wynn "said that Wynn's salary and perks are a disgrace when put in the context of the incomes of the workers he represents" and had research that showed "Wynn's salary rose 122 percent from 1980 to 1992, while the average meat packing worker's wages went up 3 percent over that period."


We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$190.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network