Last week the UAW approved an increase in dues for the first time since 1967. The average worker will spend over 2 hours a month working to pay his dues. UAW leadership is misreading the tea leaves. The increase is on the heels of a decline in membership to less than 400,000 from a peak of 1.5 million in 1979. Half of the UAW’s membership is in Michigan—a right-to-work state. This will not end well for union leadership and its bully pulpit. This is not the time for increases in dues. “Now, $10 may not sound like much if you are making more than $100,000 a year,” said Charlie Tipton of UAW Local 912 in Lexington, Ky. “To me, it’s two gallons of milk a week … or a few loaves of bread.”
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