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SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws Explanation of Proposed Change
The enclosed proposed amendment to the SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws would eliminate “minimum dues.” As a result of this amendment, a few people would pay lower dues rates than they currently pay. Nobody would pay higher dues rates than they currently pay. Most people’s dues rates would remain the same.
Almost all members of SEIU 775 pay a flat percentage rate of their pay in dues. From the start of our Union, a small number of members have paid a higher percentage of their wages in dues because they are charged what’s known as “minimum dues.”
The minimum dues rate is set by the SEIU International Constitution and Bylaws and is now $35. The SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws currently requires that our Union charge the $35 minimum dues rate only for members who work at least 40 hours per month (roughly 9 hours per week). This means that if the amount of your monthly dues (based on the flat percentage) adds up to less than $35, and you work more than 40 hours a month, you pay $35 instead of the flat percentage.
The SEIU 775 Executive Board evaluated minimum dues and found the following challenges:
- It was unfair that a few members working only a few hours a week and making less money end up paying a higher percentage.
- Minimum dues were often calculated incorrectly by employers we represent, resulting in costly administrative work by our Union to try to correct mistakes.
- Minimum dues were complicated and hard to understand for both members and potential members that were organizing into SEIU 775.
- As minimum dues bring in a very small amount of revenue, eliminating minimum dues would not negatively impact our ability to represent workers.
The attached proposed constitutional amendment would eliminate minimum dues at SEIU 775. The crossed out sections represent language we are eliminating in the current SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws, and the redlined sections represent language we are adding. Everything else in the amendment is existing language and will remain the same in our Constitution and Bylaws, or are footnotes explaining current practices.
We are leaving a provision in place that sets a dues rate of $35 only for members that wish to maintain their membership in good standing while temporarily out of work. This is not a required dues amount, it’s a voluntary payment for out of work members that want to maintain their eligibility to vote for, run for, or hold elected offices in our Union.
Note that the International Union has agreed to waive the requirement in the International Union Constitution and Bylaws to charge members of SEIU 775 minimum dues. Upon passage of this amendment SEIU 775 would notify employers to stop charging a minimum dues amount and to deduct the correct flat percentage rate of dues for members of SEIU 775.
Constitution and Bylaws Amendment
The Executive Board of SEIU 775 has voted to send proposed amendments to the SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws for approval by the membership. The Executive Board is recommending a “Yes” vote. You are receiving this ballot because you are a member in good standing with the right to vote in SEIU 775 elections.
Proposed amendments to the SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws are either crossed out or underlined and appear in red. Cross outs mean the language is being removed. Underlines mean the language is being added. The full text of the Constitution and Bylaws with the proposed changes can be found at seiu775.org/constitution-bylaws in English, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese. The effect of these changes is to eliminate minimum dues except for members who wish to maintain their membership in good standing while temporarily out of work. Members who are working will simply pay dues based on their applicable dues rate.
Please review the proposed changes and then mark and return the enclosed ballot. If you want to approve, check “yes.” If you do not want to approve, check “no.” Do not make any other marks on the ballot. Place only the ballot in the security envelope and place the security envelope inside the business reply envelope. Then mail the business reply envelope. To be counted, ballots must be received at the P.O. Box listed on the business reply envelope by 10:00 a.m. on April 24, 2024. No postage is required. Do not make any other marks on your ballot or on either envelope.
PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW CHANGE:
2.4 Membership in Good Standing. In order to exercise the rights and privileges of union membership, members of the Union shall maintain their membership in good standing by remittance payment of full monthly dues, assessments and/or any other payments owed (either directly, through the employer, or through an agent of the employer, of the member, or of the Union) prior to the last business day of each month following the month for which the dues are being paid (e.g., prior to the last business day of July for June dues). If the employer or agent cannot calculate and/or transmit the amount of dues owed by the end of the month following the month for which the dues are being paid, the member will not lose good standing if the dues are remitted prior to the last business day of the first month in which they can be calculated and/or transmitted (e.g., if the amount of dues owed for June cannot be calculated in July, but can be calculated in August, the member will not lose good standing if the June dues are remitted prior to the last business day in August).
Members who are temporarily out of work due to layoff by their employer may retain their membership in good standing by remittance remitting thirty-five dollars ($35) payment of at least the minimum dues set by the International Union Constitution and Bylaws by the last business day of each month. Members who are out of work for longer than six full months shall no longer be eligible for Regular Membership under Article 2.1 of this Constitution and Bylaws, but, beginning the seventh calendar month from their lay-off, shall remain eligible for Associate Membership under the terms and conditions of Article 2.2, above, provided that they continue to pay the monthly dues required by Article 3.3 of this Constitution and Bylaws.
All members of the Union are under a positive duty to see that their dues, assessments and/or any other payments owed are remitted on or before the last day of the month in which the same are due at the main or designated office of the Union. A member’s signed authorization allowing an employer or an agent to calculate and remit dues, constitutes compliance with this requirement.
The failure of a steward, representative, or any officer of the Union to appear or to collect the dues, assessments and/or any other payments owed shall not in any manner excuse the member from their obligations to pay their obligation on or before the due date at the main or designated office of the Union.
A member who is not in good standing at the time the Union determines eligibility to vote or be elected to office in a union election shall not be unreasonably denied the right to vote if, through no fault of the worker, they have lost good standing because their employer or the agent designated by the Union or the member to do so has failed to deduct and transmit dues to the Union.
3.3 Dues Rates.[i] Except as specified herein, the monthly dues rate shall be 3.0% of the member’s gross pay. The minimum dues rate for regular members who work forty (40) hours or more in any given month, associate members, and members who are out of work due to lay-off shall be $24, or the minimum set by the International Union Constitution and Bylaws, whichever is greater. Minimum dues shall increase if mandated by the International Union Constitution and Bylaws.[ii]
[i][Editor’s Note] Per Section 3.2 of the SEIU 775 Constitution and Bylaws, by a 2012 vote of the membership, the standard monthly dues rate for Washington Home and Community Based Care Workers was set at 3.2%. The Constitutional Dues Rate remains at 3% for all others unless reduced by the SEIU 775 Executive Board for good cause under Section 3.4.3.
[ii] [Editor’s Note:] Per Article XV, section 6(d), of the SEIU Constitution and Bylaws, SEIU 775 has received a waiver from the minimum dues requirement in the SEIU Constitution and Bylaws.