Dues, Dues, What’s Happening with my Dues?

Members covered by the Urban Operations collective agreement have noticed strange things happening with respect to dues deductions.  The problems began with the Corporation’s decision to not collect dues in June, arguing that the collective agreement was not in effect during the strike/lockout period.  This, coupled with subsequent decisions, has had a ripple effect which will be observed for months to come.

When Bill C-6 legislated the old collective agreement back into effect, the Corporation acted slowly in putting its provisions into place.  They missed the deadline for collecting July dues from the first pay period in the month and instead deducted them from the second pay cheque dated July 21^st.

In August, the Corporation did two things.  First, they got back to the usual schedule of deducting dues from the first pay period of the month and secondly, they deducted basic dues as if the legislated pay increase had been put into place.

The effect of this was that members saw dues being collected from two pay cheques in a row and the August dues being at the new rate without having received the benefit of the pay increase.

The National Office actively pursued the issue of the implementation of the pay increase and retroactivity provided for under Bill C-6.  Last week, Deepak Chopra realized the correctness of the Union’s position and announced the pay increase and retroactivity would be implemented, though it would take six to eight weeks to do so.  It is interesting the Corporation can claw back boot and glove allowances, sick leave and annual leave benefits within days but it takes them weeks to pay out money it owes.

With the imminent implementation of the pay increase, the National Executive Board decided to not reverse the dues increase.  To do so would simply have delayed the collection and increase the amount of the retroactive dues owing.

In order to reduce the impact of the collection of the dues owing, June dues and retroactive increase from February through July, we have delayed collection of arrears until September.   September is a three pay month with pay cheques due on September 1^st, 15^th and 29^th.  A double deduction of dues should be observed on the September 15^th pay.  This will cover the missed June dues as well as the September dues.  The retroactive part of the dues increase totaling $8.58 ($1.43 x 6 = $8.58) should be observed as an arrears deduction in October.

The above scenario is based on our understanding of what should normally occur.  With this Corporation, it is often difficult to predict what missteps will be made resulting in further chaos.  Hopefully, the processes will proceed as they should and everyone’s dues situation will be stabilized by the end of October.