Dues Reduction
Slated for September

Buffalo Newspaper Guild members will be asked at the September meeting to consider a change in dues collection that would trim the average amount taken from their paychecks by $3 a month.

Under the current dues collection formula, members are being assessed a special $4 monthly fee mandated by The Newspaper Guild to cover expenses related to the Detroit newspapers strike. The special assessment was used to cover strike benefits, legal coats and other expenses.

That special assessment has expired and should no longer be collected from Guild members.

At the same time the local is being mandated by TNG to begin building a separate fund to pay for any organizing expenses it might incur.

The local currently is contributing the equivalent of $1 per member out of its general fund to a special fund maintained by TNG for the same purpose. But following the merger with the Communications Workers of America, the responsibility for those funds is being shifted to the local level.

The Guild finance committee is recommending that the $1 per member month organizing obligation be funded by collecting an additional $1 in dues from each member on a monthly basis.

If approved, Guild members will see their monthly dues reduced by $3, on average. The Guild will collect dues at a rate of 1.XX percent, which is down from the current rate of 1.66 percent. Without the special assessments, the Guild dues rate is 1.53 percent.