Terminology and jargon pertaining to union dues can be confusing. This page hopes to ease some of this confusion by addressing some general questions one may have about dues pertaining to Stanford Workers’ Graduate Union (SGWU). For any questions, please email contact@sgwu.us.

Table of contents

  1. General Terminology
    1. What does the “bargaining unit” mean?
    2. What are “dues” vs. “agency fees”?
  2. Purpose of Dues
    1. Why are we required to pay dues?
    2. Why does SGWU pay dues to UE National?
  3. Paying Required Dues and Agency Fees
    1. How much are we contractually required to pay?
    2. How do I pay my dues or agency fees?
    3. I am paying my dues or agency fees manually. Why must I submit documentation of my pay stub?
  4. Good Standing and Voluntary Dues
    1. What does it mean to be a “member in good standing”?
    2. What do I need to do to become a “member in good standing”?
    3. What if I am not in the bargaining unit (BU) but I want to become a member in good standing?
  5. General Donations
    1. How do I make a donation?

General Terminology

What does the “bargaining unit” mean?

The bargaining unit (BU) refers to the complete set of graduate workers who are completely protected and covered by the contract. Currently, you are in the bargaining unit if you have a biweekly appointment (RA/TA/CA) of at least 10% or you are fully funded on a fellowship and you provide instructional services (aka a teaching fellow). If you have any confusion if you are in the BU or not, please reach out to contact@sgwu.us.

What are “dues” vs. “agency fees”?

The distinction between dues and agency fees is whether or not you wish to participate in union democratic processes, such as voting. You pay dues if you wish to be a member of the union and thereby, be able to participate in union democratic processes. You pay agency fees if you do not wish to be a member of the union, and therefore, will not be able to participate in union democratic processes. As set by our constitution, dues and agency fees are the same in amount.

Purpose of Dues

Why are we required to pay dues?

A union’s strength is built from the foundation of collective action. By making it mandatory for everyone in the BU to pay dues or agency fees, it guarantees our union to be strong, especially as we prepare for future contract campaigns. This requirement is known formally as “agency shop”. Unions without this requirement lose negotiating power over time and become weak.

Dues pay for union events, operations, and personnel. Examples of what dues pay for are below:

  1. A strike and defense fund
  2. Printing materials for flyers
  3. Rally materials like banners and audio equipment
  4. Food at events and organizing meetings
  5. Making merchandise (like T-shirts) for promotion of our union
  6. Storage space for equipment
  7. Office space for union organizers to meet with workers to discuss about grievances
  8. United Electric (UE) staffers who help us with all of these operations

Why does SGWU pay dues to United Electric (UE) National?

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, often called UE National, is the national labor union we formed under. Currently, in accordance with UE National’s constitution, we pay 2/3 of our expected dues to UE National. While this is a large portion, these national dues come back to help us greatly. The breakdown of what national dues are used for is shown below and also explained further here.

National dues breakdown figure

Each of the categories shown above help us directly. For example:

  1. The general UE National strike fund gives us an additional financial boost during contract campaigns
  2. UE staffers, paid by UE National, help us tremendously with day-to-day union operations and planning union events
  3. UE National organizes national and regional UE conferences, which allow us to network with sister unions and discuss organizational strategies
  4. Legal support helps cover any legal fees accrued during a grievance procedure
  5. The IT costs maintain the database used to conveniently and securely organize worker membership information

Paying Required Dues and Agency Fees

How much are we contractually required to pay?

If you are in the BU, you are contractually obligated to pay 1.44% of the portion of your gross (pre-tax) wages that counts as “bargaining unit” work. For example, if you are funded by both a fellowship and a biweekly pay appointment, then you are contractually obligated to pay 1.44% of only the gross (meaning pre-taxed) biweekly pay. Please note that paying your contractually required amount of dues does not immediately mean you are a “member in good standing” depending on your funding situation. Refer to the Good Standing and Voluntary Dues section below for more detail.

How do I pay my dues or agency fees?

The easiest way to pay dues or agency fees is by signing an automatic payroll deduction card. Signing the card will authorize paying the contractually obligated amount of dues or agency fees by having them automatically deducted from your biweekly paychecks. We heavily recommend you sign such a card as it makes everyone’s life easier. These deductions will only occur during quarters for which you are in the BU. For quarters for which you are not in the BU, nothing will happen even if you sign the card*. Please note that if you are a teaching fellow, signing a payroll deduction card will not do anything even though you are in the BU because fully funded fellows are not paid biweekly. Therefore, teaching fellows must pay dues or agency fees through one of the methods listed below.

If you are a teaching fellow or you do not wish to sign an automatic payroll deduction card, then the other two manual payment methods are listed below:

  1. Manual Dues/Agency Fees Zeffy portal: https://tinyurl.com/ManualDuesPortal
  2. Mailing a check to “United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers”
    1. The address to mail the check to is PO Box 19121, Stanford, CA 94309 In the “For” or “Memo” section of the check, write either “SGWU-UE Local 1043 Dues” or “SGWU-UE Local 1043 Agency Fees”

If you do not wish to sign an automatic payroll dues or agency fee deduction card, then please reach to contact@sgwu.us to sign a manual membership or manual non-membership card. This simply indicates that you are paying dues or agency fees manually and allows us to determine whether you are a member or nonmember. If you do not sign such a card, then you will not be marked down as being a member or nonmember.

I am paying my dues or agency fees manually. Why must I submit documentation of my pay stub?

If you do not sign a payroll deduction card, then we will not know how much you make. Therefore, if you pay manually, we require you to submit documentation of your pay stub so that we can make sure you are paying the right amount. We do nothing else with this pay stub information. If you choose to not provide documentation, then you will be charged with an amount equal to the dues paid by the highest paid worker in the BU, which is much higher than the average graduate worker stipend. This is delinated in Article 7, Section 1 of SGWU’s constitution.

Good Standing and Voluntary Dues

What does it mean to be a “member in good standing”?

Being a “member in good standing” means being a member that has paid the required amount of dues that enables you to vote and participate in union democratic processes. As stipulated by our constitution, this required amount is 1.44% of your total gross wages. This is done to make it fair so that everyone who gets to vote has to pay the same relative amount. For example, if you are funded by both a fellowship and a biweekly pay appointment, then you must pay 1.44% of your total wages (including both fellowship and biweekly pay) to be a member in good standing. You can choose whether or not you’d like to do so. Paying only the contractually required dues only makes you in good standing if you are paid only on a biweekly appointment or you are a teaching fellow. Otherwise, you must pay voluntary dues to be in “good standing”.

What do I need to do to become a “member in good standing”?

This all depends on your funding situation. All of the possible situations are delineated below. If you are not in any of these situations, please email contact@sgwu.us.

  1. You are in the bargaining unit
    1. You are funded only on a biweekly appointment (RA/TA/CA)
      1. You’ve signed a dues deduction card. You do not need to do anything to be a member in good standing
      2. You have not signed a dues deduction card. You will need to pay dues manually with the methods explained in “How do I pay my dues or agency fees?” to become a member in good standing
    2. You are funded by both a biweekly appointment (RA/TA/CA) and a fellowship
      1. You’ve signed dues deduction card. You will need to pay 1.44% of only your fellowship quarterly stipend to become a member in good standing
      2. You have not signed a dues deduction card. You will need to pay 1.44% of both your fellowship quarterly stipend and your biweekly paycheck to become a member in good standing
    3. You are a fully funded fellow who provides instructional services (teaching fellow)
      1. You will need to pay 1.44% of your fellowship manually to become a member in good standing. Please also sign a dues deduction membership card. The card will not automatically deduct any dues but allows us to mark you down as a member.
  2. You are not in the bargaining unit, which means you are likely a fully funded fellow who does not teach
    1. You will need to pay 1.44% of your fellowship manually to become a member in good standing. Please also sign a dues deduction membership card. The card will not automatically deduct any dues but allows us to mark you down as a member.

As mentioned above, if you are a fellow, signing a dues deduction card will not automatically deduct dues from your fellowship stipend. The dues deduction card only automatically deducts dues from biweekly paychecks. So signing the dues deduction card as a fellow lets us know that you are a member but does not automatically mean you’re in good standing.

If you wish to be a member, we highly encourage you to sign the union dues deduction membership card as it makes this entire process much more convenient for both union leadership and yourself.

What if I am not in the bargaining unit (BU) but I want to become a member in good standing?

If you are not in the BU (i.e. a fully funded fellow who doesn’t teach) but would like to also become a union member in good standing, then you must pay 1.44% of your total wages. Before paying, please make sure to sign a union membership card. This allows us to mark you down as a member and include you in important communications. Afterwards, pay with one of the following methods below:

  1. Voluntary Dues Zeffy portal: https://tinyurl.com/VoluntaryDuesPortal
    1. This portal can also be accessed with https://sgwu.us/voluntary_dues
  2. Mailing a check to “United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers”
    1. The address to mail the check to is PO Box 19121, Stanford, CA 94309 In the “For” or “Memo” section of the check, write “SGWU-UE Local 1043 Voluntary Dues”

General Donations

How do I make a donation?

Donations can be made by anyone! Donations are separate from dues or agency fees. Please do not donate using any of the portals listed above this section. To donate, simply use the Zeffy portal with the following link: https://tinyurl.com/GeneralDonationPortal. This can also be accessed with the link: https://sgwu.us/donations