Union dues

“ Whether the payments were made to the employees, who then contributed them to union trust funds in the form of higher union dues, or whether as here they passed straight from the employer to the trust funds, the final result is the same. And it is just as much in the interest of 'effectuat (ing) the policies of this Act,' and of making the employees whole, to require the payments in either case.↑ Steelworkers Trilogy, 363 U.S. 564, 574, 593, 80 S.Ct. ”

“ In my view, § 2, Eleventh can constitutionally authorize no more than to make a worker pay dues to a union for the sole purpose of defraying the cost of acting as his bargaining agent. Our Government has no more power to compel individuals to support union programs or union publications than it has to compel the support of political programs, employer programs or church programs. ”

“ Specifically, the union purported to act as an authorized bargaining agent, union dues were collected through a 'check-off' by th employer, and employees were compelled to become members of the union within forty-five days. ”

“ At best all that has been alleged or proved is that the union will expend a part of each respondent's still-unpaid membership dues for so-called political or other purposes not connected with collective bargaining, and that each respondent would object to the use of any part of his dues for matters other than those relating to collective bargaining. ”

“ The dues received from them for the national and district organizations make a very large annual total, and the obligations assumed in traveling expenses, holding of conventions, and general overhead cost, but most of all in strikes, are so heavy that an extensive financial business is carried on, money is borrowed, notes are given to banks, and in every way the union acts as a business entity, distinct from its members. ”

“ In such a case there would be no expenditure for such a purpose of union funds.
'Mr. Magnuson. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, let me ask him another question. All the funds of labor unions come from dues paid by their members. All the activities of the unions are based upon expenditure of funds provided by dues. That money is in the union's treasury. ”

“ When many members pay the same amount of monh ly dues into the treasury of the union which dispenses the fund for what are, under the Court's opinion, both permitted and proscribed activities, how can it be told whose dues paid for what? Let us suppose a union with two members, each paying monthly dues of three dollars, and that one does not the other does not object to his dues being expended for 'proscribed activity'-whatever that phrase may mean. ”

“ By the preferential Union plan, when an employer obliges himself to prefer Union to non-union men, a Union man in good standing, that is, a Union man who has paid his dues and met his Union obligations, is insured employment to a limited extent, and the dues represent a premium paid by him for such employment. ”

“ I think the Board should be denied the use of its Brown-Olds remedy in situations where, as here, it is not unlikely that a substantial number of employees were willing to pay dues for union membership because, as I see it, the amount of dues or other exactions paid is not a tenable way of estimating the value a willing union member would place on his right to choose freely whether or not he would be or remain a union member-as it were, on his right to change his mind. The amount of dues paid does perhaps provide a means of estimating the value of benefits received from the union. ”

“ A congressional concern over possible impingements on the interests of individual dissenters from union policies is therefore discernible. It is true that opponents of the union shop urged that Congress should not allow it without explicitly regulating the amount of dues which might be exacted or prescribing the uses for which the dues might be expended. ”

“ Unity of the workers would destroy that business, and these well-fed, well-groomed, well-paid business men cannot tolerate any idea that would deprive them of their comfortable means of livelihood and relegate them to their old working places, even the memory of which they are reluctant to renew. 173. How do these men exercise such a power as is here attributed to them? If you are the average union man you joined the union, after having paid an initiation fee which you thought excessive, and dues you felt to be beyond the requirements of the union. ”

“ You pay for it all, of course, and that is why your officials are always in favor of a big union treasury, but what have you got from it? You keep on working in the factory or mill and paying your dues, and your labor leader cares blessed little how hard you toil or how you live, and you have to make a big racket at your union meeting to compel attention to your needs and your complaints. ”

“ If the money were paid pursuant to an arrangement which violated the statute, it can be ordered refunded provided this would best effectuate the statutory policies. * * * That the money may have been collected anyhow by a legal means does not privilege the use of an illegal procedure to obtain it.'↑ For example, an employee may be more willing to join a union which charges high dues and provides substantial benefits than a union which charges little and gives little. But the Board formula declares that in the case where the dues are higher the value of the loss of freedom of choice is greater. ”

“ The aforesaid fees shall be payable on or before the first day of each month, and such sums shall in no case exceed the initiation fees and the membership dues paid by those who voluntarily choose to join the Union. Other than the payment of these service fees, those employees who do not choose to join the Union shall be under no further financial obligations or requirements of any kind to the Union. ”

“ It avoided all kinds of socialistic theories and attended strictly to the business of organizing unions for the purpose of increasing wages, shortening hours, and improving working conditions for its members. It did not try to include everybody in one big union but brought together the employees of each particular craft whose interests were clearly the same. To prepare for strikes and periods of unemployment, it raised large funds by imposing heavy dues and created a benefit system to hold men loyally to the union. ”

“ The beneficiary system of the union has not been highly developed and members of the union quitting the trade drop their membership. There is no sort of provision whereby members may retain their beneficiary rights on the payment of less than full dues. ”

“ However, he remains a "helper" and should he find himself out of employment he returns to the realm of the unskilled and poorly paid. Should he secure employment in an organized shop in some other calling, he may again become a "union helper" upon the payment of a new initiation fee and new dues. Should he desire, in view of industrial uncertainty, to retain his old along with his new union membership, we have the lowest paid worker in industry called upon to furnish the greatest financial proof of his adherence to, and belief in unionism. ”

“ He may do this, in a case like the present, simply by putting on evidence showing that the employer and the union, within six months preceding the filing of the charge, required the employees to become and remain members of the union and to submit to deduction of dues from their wages without asking them for authorization and without any election, or Board certification of the union. ”

“ Only by observing the given scheme of organization can the finances of the union be placed on a proper level and the centers receive due financial strength, which is a necessary condition for further and more systematic activity.
12. The most suitable principle by which to determine the membership dues during the period of chronic depreciation of paper money would be a proportional assessment. The normal amount of membership dues, the Congress considers is one per cent of the wages earned. ”

“ By providing that a worker should not be discharged if he was denied or if he lost his union membership for any reason other than nonpayment of dues, initiation fees or assessments, Congress definitely indicated that it had weighed carefully and given effect to the policy of the arguments against the union shop.' Report of Presidential Emergency Board No. ”

“ In those national unions which have introduced sick, out-of-work, or travelling benefits, national funds are ordinarily held by the local unions, for the reason that it is desirable that payment of claims should be made immediately. The unions which pay such benefits are divisible into two classes according to the extent to which they have entrusted the funds of the national union to the local unions. The Cigar Makers, the Typographia, the Piano and Organ Workers and the Plumbers intrust to the local unions all the funds of the national organization. ”

“ Even in these States, however, whether labor unions are included within the definition of 'association' is a matter of local judicial interpretation.
'It is apparent that until all jurisdictions, and particularly the Federal Government, authorize actions against labor unions as legel entities, there will not be the mutual responsibility necessary to vitalize collective-bargaining agreements. The Congress has protected the right of workers to organize. It has passed laws to encourage and promote collective bargaining. ”

“ The principal unions of this character are the Typographical Union, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the Brotherhood of Painters, and the Amalgamated Wood Workers' Union. In general, the more highly developed the beneficiary functions of the national unions become, the less freedom the local unions are given in carrying on such functions. The tendency is therefore to replace local with national benefits. The local unions still play, however, a large rôle in the payment of benefits. ”

“ By the middle of the Twentieth-Century, unions had become one of the biggest businesses in the country, and by this time a considerable amount of the industrial conflict had shifted to fights between them for jurisdiction over dues-paying members. ”

“ Actually, there are only 13 States where union funds cannot be easily reached under laws in effect permitting satisfaction of judgments from the central funds of the union. * * * Of the remaining 35 States, there are 10 which by statute permit the union assets to be reached by representative suits in any type of action and there are 25 which permit suits against unions in the common name of the union, in some cases with liability attaching not only to the union funds, but also to the assets of every individual member of the union. ”

“ Congress was also interested in promoting collective bargaining that ended with agreements not to strike. [4] The Senate Report, supra, p. 16 states:
'If unions can break agreements with relative impunity, then such agreements do not tend to stabilize industrial relations. The execution of an agreement does not by itself promote industrial peace. The chief advantage which an employer can reasonably expect from a collective labor agreement is assurance of uninterrupted operation during the term of the agreement. ”

“ Employees choosing not to join would make the required payments and, in accordance with union custom, would share in union expenditures for strike benefits, educational and retired member benefits, and union publications and promotional activities, but they would not be entitled to attend union meetings, vote upon ratification of agreements negotiated by the union, or have a voice in the internal affairs of the union. ”

“ These agreements are growing in complexity, and today they embrace not only questions of wages and hours but also methods for adjusting all the differences which may arise between the parties to the bargain.
The very success of collective bargaining hinges upon the solidarity and integrity of the union which makes the bargain. A union capable of enforcing an agreement is a necessary antecedent condition to such a contract. With this fact in mind, one can believe that John Mitchell was not unduly sanguine in stating that “the tendency is toward the growth of compulsory membership ... ”

“ The National League receives a certain amount of financial support from the American Federation of Labor, and from a number of the international unions, several of the latter being affiliated with the League. State federations, city central bodies, and local unions in different parts of the country give similar coöperation and money support. ”

“ Organisation was, between 1904 and 1911, steadily extending in all directions, when the passing of the 'National Insurance Act, which practically compelled every wage-earner to join an " Approved Society " of some kind, led to a dramatic expansion of Trade Union membership, from which the various Unions of general workers, as they now prefer to be styled, obtained their share of advantage. ”

“ The local unions are obliged to pay their tithe into the greater treasury, to make stated reports, to appoint a 116 certain roster of committees, and in certain small matters to conform to the requirements of the national union. ”

“ If the employer refused to pay him the wages that he thought fair, he was nevertheless unable to leave the employ and to resist arbitrary and unfair treatment. Union was essential to give laborers opportunity to deal on equality with their employer. They united to exert influence upon him and to leave him in a body in order by this inconvenience to induce him to make better terms with them. They were withholding their labor of economic value to make him pay what they thought it was worth. ”