NEW SCHOOL SENS UNION DUES

What are union dues and the initiation fee?
Unions aren’t funded by wealthy donors or millionaires; they’re funded by the workers that form them, including you! Union dues are 1.44 percent of your total compensation. Additionally, you pay a one-time, $50 initiation fee. After you’ve signed up to become a member, dues and the fee are deducted automatically from your paycheck and sent to the union. It costs money to run a union. The dues money goes towards enforcing our contract with TNS, hiring organizers and lawyers when necessary, and ensuring we get the benefits we negotiated. Right now, the UAW staff who are working with us are doing so thanks to the dues we are paying. 

​PLEASE NOTE: The dues and initiation fee do not represent a decrease in your overall pay. Members ratified our union contract by a 90 percent ‘yes’ vote. No one would have voted to decrease their pay. Student workers voted to approve the contract, in part, because the pay raises we negotiated are far bigger than the dues and fee amount.

When do I begin and stop paying union dues?
You only pay dues while working as a TF, TA, RA, CA, or Tutor and only after signing up for the union. You stop paying dues automatically when you stop working the aforementioned jobs. Remember, though you only begin to pay dues after signing up for the union, since you benefit from the union contract, it is a condition of your employment to pay dues. The easiest way to do so is to sign up.

I got an email from an administrator about 'Back Dues' or 'Retroactive Dues.' What are back dues/retroactive dues?
Since every academic student worker benefits equally from the union, it’s only fair that every academic student worker contributes the same amount in dues. Say you start working on March 1st. Nearly all your peers sign up and start paying dues on March 1st, but you forget and don’t sign up until March 14th, two weeks later. You receive the same benefits as your peers, but didn’t pay dues for the two weeks between the 1st and the 14th, while they did. This wouldn’t be fair. Since you’re receiving the same benefits as your peers, you should pay the same amount in dues, regardless of when you sign up. 

Back dues are meant to remedy this situation. Continuing with the example above, when you sign up on March 14th, you will pay the dues you would have paid had you signed up March 1st (the day you started working). The dues you pay are retroactive, meaning if you sign up late, you still pay the dues amount you would have paid had you signed up the day that you started your new job. So, if you sign up late, the dues deducted from the first paycheck you receive after signing up might be a bit higher than 1.44%, but that after that first check, will be just 1.44 percent.