Originally Posted by
Mudhen200
You don't have to pay "dues". At Alaska, you can choose to NOT be a member of ALPA. In the past, we had a few guys. Maybe we still do, I don't know. If you opt out, you get no representation. BUT you still have to pay the same amount each month as a dues paying member, to the charity of your choice or some such thing, but you get nothing from ALPA. So the fella that doesn't want to be a part of ALPA has that choice, he is just not going to save any money by doing so.
In an agency shop arrangement, nonmembers have to pay fees to the union (roughly equal to member dues amount) to cover their collective bargaining fees. It doesn’t go to a charity...unless Alaska has some weird setup, but I can’t imagine as an ALPA carrier that is the case.