Let’s say you work in a company that’s a closed shop and, for whatever reason, the union doesn’t like your face anymore and revokes your membership. Is that equivalent to being fired? Can you keep working in a closed shop without being in the union?
You end up having to pay what’s called an “agency fee” every month instead of union dues. Usually it’s 85-90% of what dues would be. You still get the benefits of the contract, rate of pay, seniority, etc.
But you don’t get to vote in elections or attend meetings. Nor are you eligible for union-provided perks like additional group insurance or the union credit union or … Nor do you get union help / representation if you run afoul of management. You do get the grievenace and arbitration rules set forth in the union contract; you just have to uphold your side w/o their help.
And the differerence between agency fees & dues is essentially the difference in cost to the union between providing the full membership package and the cost of them administering the current contract on your behalf.
At least the outlines of this system are set forth in Federal labor law.
OK, I suppose I thought it might be a bar to continued employment. I guess I was wrong.
For local cases, the union still has to provide a union rep to interpret the contract and the rules, because that’s in the contract. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll work very hard for you if he knows you’re not paying your full dues, though.
To the OP, though, I ask what union you’re talking about? My experience was almost being forced against my will to be part of the UAW, and I did a lot of research in trying to de-authorize them before we got a contract (the good guys won). Although it was several years ago, there were a lot of rules and bylaws making it almost impossible to forcefully kick someone out of the union. Hell, they even had to accept me so that I could vote NO on their contract three times.
Honestly, I can’t imagine a union jettisoning a member. They are in the business of supporting and defending their members - no matter what they did, and I mean NO MATTER WHAT. So, I just don’t see it happening.
(Yes, yes, I’m sure dozens of folks will come in here with stories of unions kicking someone out - I’m just sayin’…)
I’m telling you, my sole purpose of signing the card was to vote NO on our stupid, hourly-mentality (for salaried, degreed engineers) contract, and there was nothing they could do to kick me out to prevent the NO vote (as well as the NO vote for the other minimum 50% that we needed all three times). Don’t get me wrong: they not only knew that I was going to vote NO; I was the #1 ringleader in the anti-union (for us, in our circumstances, may not apply to everyone else in the world, disclaimer, blah blah blah) drive.
A closed shop is against labor laws in the US. I think what you mean is a Union shop.
If you loose your “good standing as a member” in a union shop then the union can notify your employeer that you are no longer elegable for employment and they will teminate you. If they do not then they are in violation of the contract.
If you fall behind on your dues you can be kicked out of the union. I have seen it happen where someone stopped paying their dues and ignored the notices. They were dropped from the union. The business agent informed the employeer. The chief told the employee he no longer had a job to go home. In order to get his job back he had to repay all the fees and two months union dues to rejoin the union. Then he had to reapply for his old job. He was lucky they rehired him as a new employee to fill the empty position. We are constantly warned of what can happen if we fall behind by the agents and by the newsletter.
You only get to pay “agency fees” if the employeer has an open shop or agency shop contract. And in an open shop or angency fee shop the union is required to repersent the non member if he/she runs afoul of management. This buggs most union busness agents that I know.
The closed shop is illegal in the US: Closed shop - Wikipedia That is not to say it doesn’t exist, but they would have a lot of trouble forcing the employer to fire you. In the early 60s, the Philadelphia constructions unions maintained an illegal closed shop in order to keep blacks out. The union shop in which you must join the union after being hired cannot legally exclude you. It is legal in most states outside of the south.
Here in Quebec, closed shops are legal. About 30 years ago there was an illegal strike by teachers. Some teachers refused to disobey the law and the union tried to expel them which would have led to automatic termination. For whatever reason, cooler heads or legal opinion or whatever, they were not expelled and kept their jobs.