Brothers & Sisters,
With the receipt of the new company pay stub on Thursday, August 4, 2022. The company has made some format changes that provided more information about deductions. One of those changes was an attempt to more accurately breakdown our Union Dues.
Unifor Local 707 -By-laws
Article 10 -Section 1
Initiations and Dues
*Section 1
Initiation fee of the Local Union shall be $10.00. The application shall be accompanied by the initiation fee. Dues shall consist of two hours’ and 20 minutes pay plus .85¢ for Picnic Fund,.10¢ for a Strike Fund, $2.00 for the Building Corporation Fund, and .25 for a Special Retires’ Fund to purchase a suitable gift for future retires, which shall be checked off by the Company in accordance with the contract and in conformity with Article 15 Section G of the Constitution of the National Initiation fee of the Local Union. Initiation fee of the Local Union shall be $10.00. The application shall be accompanied by the initiation fee.
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* It should be noted that the last amendment to this Local By-law above was in 2008, when the Local By-law Committee made changes to this article to ensure it was properly identified and conformed with our national constitution.
While the percentage of Union Dues has not changed. The intent of the new company pay statements was to reflect a more detailed account of what goes towards Union Dues in accordance with our Local bylaws and constitution.
Note: If your hourly rate has not changed from July to August 2022, you will notice the total monthly amount of Union Dues deducted will have not changed.
Example:
July 2022 -Pay Statement – Union Dues $79.69
August 2022- Pay Statement- 707 Dues $77.74 + UN SPEC 707 $1.95 = $79.69
The total deduction of Union dues continues to remain the same, as does its allocation to the proper Local 707 funds. However, the amount reported on your new company pay statement of UN SPEC 707 of $1.95 does not accurately reflect what has and continues to be allocated to these Local funds in accordance with our Local bylaws and within our constitution. As the total combined allocation of these four Local funds (Picnic, Strike, Building Corp and Speical Retire Fund) is $3.20 per dues paying 707 member, per month.
The company has also indicated to members and leadership that UN SPEC 707 is our “Flower Fund”. This too is incorrect.
Local 707 has never had a “Flower Fund” for any purpose. I have requested that management and payroll, immediately refrain from referring to these important four Local funds as such.
In Solidarity,
Mark Sciberras
Unifor Local 707- President
