Letters

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   HAVE YOUR SAY Feel strongly about something? Share it with the community by writing a letter to the editor. You’ll need to include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) We reserve the right to edit letters, but if you keep yours to 250 words or less, we won’t ask you to shorten it. If your letter is published, please wait 30 days before submitting another. Send it to: E-mail: letters@heraldnet.com Mail: Letters section The Herald P.O. Box 930 Everett, WA 98206 Fax: 425-339-3458 Have a question about letters? Contact Carol MacPherson (cmacpherson@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3472).   Published: Thursday, June 19, 2008 MINIMUM WAGE Union dues made job unaffordable In October of 2007, I joined Quality Food Center as my part-time job. When I started work, the management at Q.F.C. failed to tell me that I would be obligated to be a member of U.F.C.W. Local 21. Despite my dislike for unions, I originally put up with it because I needed money. Every month Local 21 would take $22.50 out of my checks. Although my original wage was $8.25 an hour, I would have to work a lot more just so I could make minimum wage after union dues. I realized that a non-union worker earning minimum wage makes the full $8.07 an hour, required by the state of Washington; on the other hand, a Local 21 worker would have to work 125 hours per month just to average $8.07 an hour, after the union fee. The results may equal minimum wage but the hours to reach that point are too substantial. Plus, Q.F.C. wouldn't let me work more than 30 hours a week. On a monthly rate, I couldn't work more than 120 hours. If I had a maximum schedule, I would still be short five hours of making minimum wage. Therefore, as a Q.F.C. employee, it was impossible to make minimum wage. During my union days, Local 21 took two "initiation" fees ($75 apiece) from two of my checks. After one had been deducted the $75, my hourly wage amount added up to $3.67 per hour; and after my other check had been decreased from the "initiation" fee my hourly wage was a meek $0.17 per hour. I eventually quit my job; the reason was 100 percent Local 21. Jeffers Baxter Mukilteo

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