The last time our contract was due, in 4/94, I inquired casually about what members had to do to resign from being a card-carrying member. Some members are single Moms, as I am, and if we were to be out on strike, we would see no pay for 2 weeks, and then we would get 200.00 per week for the third week we were out, etc, etc,...I was told by the sec/treas of this Local that the surrendering of the Union card was to be 90 days before the strike, of you could not surrender it!!! This person really stated that!!
I thought that was hokey,but then we had the "planned" 4 day strike, which we were paid nothing..So here we go again...and now I know that I can resign my card-carrying membership, anytime, and i will not be fined by the Union.
Now, the flip side of this coin is, AT&T made 12 BILLION in profits in 2008, and this job is not hurt by the recession, and is still growing by leaps and bounds. I can see AT&T wanting us to go with the National Healthcare plan, to reduce their cost, but that Healthcare Plan is not in place yet.(I am thinking AT&T is wanting to drop the healthcare cost-to drop the abuses of the FMLA which all the Union officers seem to abuse left and right. I was told the last contract that we did not get a bigger pay raise, due to the fact that we still had AT&T pay the Healthcare cost...but no proof or after statements proved this.....) I sincerely hope we do not strike-as I know Mangers and Craft people feel the same way. But to cover my bases, and ensure I keep a roof over my children's head and feed them, I will mail my membership card to the Union Hall, with a letter stating I resign from being a card-carrying Member. I will let the blog know how this goes. Thanks for the enlghtning information as well.