A Big Shoe Falls for Rail IAM Members-Forty-one Percent Dues Increase Proposed.

 

by Jon Flanders, member IAM LL 1145

 

The ongoing economic crisis is now hitting the pockets of dues paying members of the International Association of Machinists. The Grand Lodge of the IAM is proposing a revamped formula for calculating dues, moving from charging twice the hourly wage to taking two percent of a members base monthly wage. The GL cites declining membership and rising costs as the justification for this change. The proposal will be voted on at the quadrennial International convention in September.

For railroad machinists represented by the IAM, this would mean a jump from fifty-one dollars per month to about 72 dollars a month, an increase of 41 percent.

Needless to say, this proposal has caused a great deal of consternation. Railroad IAM members have not had a raise for several years, since we are still working under the terms of the old contract dating back to 2005 after voting down a tentative agreement that was deemed grossly inadequate. Recent high food and fuel hikes are hammering members, and many are counting on overtime to get by. The two percent proposal has gone off like a bomb in this atmosphere. Heated discussions are breaking out with complaints that we are getting nothing for our current dues, so why should we pay more for that?

Now it goes without saying that if our local is serious about discussing the proposed dues increase, we should examine the union's books and we should be willing to send a representative to the international convention to convey our concerns.

Stepping back a little however, the crisis around the dues issue in the IAM provides an opening to discuss some fundamental questions concerning the way railroad shop workers are organized. Because in a sense we are paying to sustain a nineteenth century form of organization born in the steam era(craft unionism), in a twenty-first century environment.

In a workplace with around 260 union workers, we have seven unions representing us. The IAM, Transportation Communications Union(TCU), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers(IBEW), Sheetmetal Workers International Association(SMWIA), Firemen and Oilers(IBF&O), Transportation Workers Union(TWU) and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers(IBB) all have members in the shop. Each union has its own local, district(in most cases) and International structures to support.

Using a low dues figure of $50 per month, 260 shop workers generate approximately $13,000 a month. This money goes to support a structure that has its full time union representatives often located hundreds of miles away in places like Kentucky. We are lucky to see these reps twice a year, and the cost of their travel is only going to go up. I certainly would not argue that the IAM International is going to need more money to maintain the status quo.

If on the other hand, our shop locals were consolidated into one union for shop workers, our dues could sustain several full time local officers, a union hall and have money left over for the international union. The travel cost for a full time union officer located in Albany would be considerably less than that of one located in Kentucky.

Obviously such a consolidation would mean six of the seven unions would have to stand aside. Perhaps we could use the model of the merger of the operating crafts that formed the United Transportation Union (UTU) in 1969. Our current union leadership could take us through such a process, but would they oppose it because of the loss of full time jobs for union officials?

Railroad machinists face the fact that continuing the current model of craft unionism has it's price, as expressed in the IAM Grand Lodge's Two Percent Solution and a forty-one percent dues increase. Lets hope that we can do more than simply rally in opposition to a raise in dues, lets hope that we can begin a thoughtful discussion about how we are being organized in the railroad shops across the USA.