Special Dues Abuse: How Local 308 Needs To Change
It was so bad under the second term of Secretary-Treasurer Deborah Cosey-Lane, that I had filed ATU Section 22 charges against her for not fulfilling her duties as per Section 13 of the ATU Local 308 bylaws.
She literally told me to sign up members myself. Then when I tried, she ignored those who submitted applications. Of course, President Dixon and all the other officers backed her up in order to throw out the charges. They found a flaw in that one of the signatories was not a dues paying member.
So she won't sign members up who want to join. Then invalidates their name. Charges dismissed! Clever!
Anyways, the problem now is that after you graciously and voluntarily signed up—possibly many years after being hired—the new Secretary-Treasurer took advantage of your sincerity and is garnishing for unpaid Initiation Fees and/or back-dues (dues that were not paid from those previous months or years).
To add insult to injury, he never even attempted to personally contact you about the raid of your hard-earned money.
Let's examine the Local 308 bylaw to understand these Special Dues:
Exactly what are dues for and how are they calculated?
Our dues pay for "lost wages," full-time officer salaries and benefits and the bills incurred from maintaining a building. Lost wages is just another phrase for pay to do union work instead of your assigned work as a CTA employee. This is explained in detail through our Collective Bargaining Agreement:
However, our dues are also used for patronage and pacification. Sports, parties and trips take up a significant portion of our dues every month. It will range from $500 to $15,000. Most of that spending is useless to the membership. As an active member and elected leader, I almost always vote no on such spending.
The dues are calculated by a percentage of the average pay of all workers. This is detailed in the ATU Local 308 bylaws.
Basically, as our hourly wage increases, so does our union dues. At this rate—within a few years—we will be at or near $100/month. The CSA's, Second Chancers and Flagmen will not be able to afford them. They should have a 50% discount—something me and others in the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition have been fighting for since 2019.
Since the disastrous mess left over by former Secretary-Treasurer Deborah Cosey-Lane, her successor has been trying to catch up with all the un-enrolled members and members who never paid Initiation Dues. When he finds the deficiency, that's when you will see "Special Dues" on your paycheck.
However, you may notice that there is no such thing as Special Dues in the bylaws!
There is a mention of Special Assessment in Section 25(p), however. This is often incorrectly listed as Special Dues on our paycheck deductions. Basically, if we don't have enough money in the bank account to stay in business, Local 308 can deduct up to $5 per month (up to six months in one year).
In Section 25(b), (c) and (d), we have some other details that mention assessments, fines and initiation dues:
But if you have no fines and have been a paying member all year, why are "Special Dues" showing up? One explanation above is that you stopped paying dues because you were laid off, furloughed on disability or terminated and awaiting reinstatement. Another is that you "opted out" and now want to return as a paying member. See Section 27(f):
Yet some of you have none of these things in your past. You need to send an email the Secretary-Treasurer and ask the reason. I say email instead of phone because you need to see a record of exactly what is going on.
sec-treas@atu308.org
I do not approve of this kind of taking of money. Especially under the auspices of "Special Dues." That term should never be used. Phrases that are specific to the use of the money should be used:
- Back-dues from Self-suspension
- Uncollected Initiation Dues
- Back-dues from Leave
"Special Assessment" is the least that should be done. Moreover, the member should at least receive a letter or email message specifying exactly why the automatic deduction is being made. At best, they should get a personal phone call to ask permission.
The phrase "Special Dues" is unacceptable. However, because members have let officials get away with it for so long, the Secretary-Treasurer behaves as if it is acceptable conduct. It is unacceptable.
Local 308 is losing members fast. Corruption is rampant. One way my fellow officials can gain trust with money from the members is to be open and responsive to their rights.
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