WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Scott Shugarts (pictured below) serves as President of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Local 815’s Erie County Clerk/Legal Unit.

Every two weeks, most of us take a look at our paychecks to make sure everything is as we expect it to be and most of us are used to seeing the $20 to $30 being taken right off the top for our CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association) Union Dues. 

It’s a given at this point and it adds up: $25 a paycheck comes out to 31 cents for every hour we work. 

Our yearly Pay Steps would look a little different if they accounted for that!

So, for that decent amount of money - are we really getting much back? 

I’m not talking about general job security or the ability to file grievances, nor am I talking about yearly calendar books or light dinners every few months at meetings we receive as “perks.” 

I’m talking about:

We’re losing $25 every two weeks from our wallet

and

How does our wallet get filled again?

Enter the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS at www.bls.gov). 

Their tables show that, as of 2016, Unionized Public Sector (Government) Workers make an average of $6.80 per hour more than Non-Unionized Workers. 

It bears repeating: Union Workers earn, on average, $6.80 per hour more in wages than Non-Union Workers.

The same BLS Stats shows that, in 2011, the average Union Member/Employees in the Public Sector earned benefits worth $7.11 per hour more than Non-Union Workers. 

That was in 2011. 

Please believe that this disparity has not gotten smaller.

Again, to repeat: Union Workers earn benefits worth, on average, $7.11 per hour more than Non-Union Workers.

Simple math: $6.80 per hour wages, plus $7.11 per hour benefits, equals (almost) $14 per hour more for Public Sector Union Workers than Non-Unionized counterparts. 

If you haven’t yet, you’ll most likely hear about Right-To-Work (for less) Initiatives. 

People with political and industrial profit motivations are going to tell you that you can decide to quit the Union. 

And yes, that you won’t have to pay dues! 

They’ll show you the numbers: 31 cents per hour! 

$25 a paycheck! 

That’s $650 a year!!! 

That sounds great. 

I’m a Union President and I sure as heck would listen to someone offering to put an extra $650 in my pocket. 

However, I then have to remember that’s $14 per hour more than what Unionized Workers make. 

I have to remember that’s $1,120 every paycheck. 

I have to remember that, including wages and benefits, Unionized Public Sector Workers earn more than $20,000 more per year than Non-Unionized Government Workers!

So, when the Right-To-Work Advocates come to your door – and they will come - to offer you that $650 (or whatever amount you may pay) per year back from your Union Dues, please ask them how you’re going to make up the thousands of dollars’ worth of wages and benefits that Non-Unionized Workers miss out on. 

Show them the numbers - and maybe they’ll join our side!