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Bremen, KS | I worked for Union Pacific Railroad in telecommunications for a bit over 26 years until I resigned back in February. Our craft was covered by the IBEW and when I left dues were about $56/month. Dues were set to go up by about a third this spring as the local hadn't kept up with the International's rules regarding dues. I missed out on that. Darn.
Did paying those dues make sense economically? I never put a pencil to it, but I do think that, yes, it did make sense in this part of the world as nowhere else in this part of the world would one be able to earn the wages and benefits the union contract with the railroad paid. The dues weren't the reason I resigned. Our department management put me in an untenable position so I left.
How effective was the union? I never had to find out as I did my assigned work and only had one safety screw up during my employment that the union wouldn't have been of any use anyway. As I see it, the IBEW, like most of the other craft unions, simply followed along after the UTU and BLET got their way. As a craft we weren't large in the company--actually being dwarfed by the electricians--and certainly weren't noticeably to the local or the International. The only communication usually received was mail regarding contract balloting.
It was good, but I wouldn't go back.
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Do Union Dues make economic sense?
