What Are Union Dues and Why Pay Them?

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By • October 27, 2023

Union dues are regular payments made by every worker of an organized unit to fund their union. Dues fund many activities of the union such as contract negotiations and enforcement, organizing, representation, arbitration, member training, strike pay, administration, and more.

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In most cases the employer deducts dues from all unionized workers’ pay and remits the payment to the union. In other cases, members can self-pay their dues when not working to maintain their membership and associated benefits.

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Dues are automatically deducted from the pay of all those covered by a collective agreement – a result of the arbitration decision from Supreme Court Judge, Ivan Rand, in 1946 from the Windsor Strike and Ford Motor Company in Windsor, Ontario.

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Rand decided that because everyone in a workplace benefits from the collective agreement, it is only fair that everyone should contribute to the costs of operating their union.