Home < Policies, Employee & Labor Relations < Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining < Systemwide Collective Bargaining Units < Postdoctoral Scholar Unit (PX) < Agency Fee
The Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) was amended in January 2000 to establish an "agency shop" at the University of California. This law requires all employees who are represented by a union to provide financial support to the union to help cover the costs of negotiations, contract administration, and related representational activities.
Each union establishes the amount of contributions it will require from employees. These contributions take the form of either membership dues for employees who choose to join the union, or agency fees, for those employees who choose not to join the union. Once the union establishes the dues & fee contribution amount and notifies the university that deductions should begin, all employees are required to provide financial support to the union, except an employee "who is a member of a bona fide religion, body or sect that has historically held conscientious objections to joining or financially supporting public employee organizations." Such employees are required to pay the same fee to an authorized charity, and only the union can agree to an employee's status as a conscientious objector.
The UAW has not yet established the dues and fee requirements for Postdoctoral Scholars. However, the UAW represents Graduate Student Employees, Readers and Tutors at the University of California, and the fee structure that the UAW established for them can be viewed here.
The full text of HEERA is available online here.