SHARE Union Dues at Marlborough Hospital
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. When do I start to pay dues?
A. SHARE will give you information about membership and dues during your new employee orientation. It usually takes a few weeks for membership cards to get processed, before you can see the dues being deducted from your paycheck. Dues begin once your card gets processed and are not retroactive your date of hire.
Q. How much are SHARE Union dues?
If you work more than 20 hours, dues are $9.42/week.
If you work 12-20 hours, dues are $7.05/week.
If you work less than 12 hours on the books or are per diem, dues are $4.76/week.
Q. How do I pay my dues?
A. You sign a membership card authorizing dues to be deducted from your paycheck, and they come out each week. If you don’t get any pay in a week, you don’t pay any dues.
Q. Do dues go up?
A. Yes, dues go up a little bit each January. The dues rates are set by our parent union, AFSCME, which is a national union with over a million members. The dues increase is based on the average increase in pay among AFSCME members. SHARE charges the lowest dues allowable by AFSCME. In 2020, the dues went up 0.12-0.25 cents. We find out how much they are going up in December each year.
Q. What do SHARE Union dues pay for?
A. Mostly they pay for the SHARE Union organizer staff who work with your group. They also go toward rent and phones for the SHARE office in Worcester. A portion of dues goes to AFSCME, our parent union.
Q. What if I don’t want to pay dues?
If you are in the SHARE bargaining unit then you are covered by the SHARE contract, and it is a condition of employment to pay dues or fees for that representation. You do have a choice about whether to be a dues-paying SHARE member, or pay an “agency fee” to the union instead. The fee is the same amount as dues.
Q. What is the difference between a member and a fee-payer?
Members and fee payers both get the wages and benefits that SHARE negotiates, and get representation if issues come up at work and they want help. They also pay the same amount. So what is the difference?
Most people choose to be members of SHARE. Members can participate in internal union activities like voting on contracts and voting for, or running for, leadership positions in the union. Agency fee-payers are actively choosing not to join or participate. (For example, some religions do not allow their members to join other organizations.)