Union Dues Calculator
Estimate union dues from hours of pay, a percent of gross, or a flat rate, with caps, overtime, and initiation fees, per paycheck, per month, and per year.
Union Dues Calculator
Dues Formula
Your local's bylaws set the formula. Not sure which one applies? Check your contract or pay stub, or ask the dues office. Rules vary by local and change over time. Built for U.S. unions.
Base (Straight-Time) Hourly Rate
Use your base rate. Hours-of-pay dues ignore overtime premiums.
Enter your base hourly rate.
Paid a salary? Convert it to an hourly rate with our pay period converter.
Regular Hours per Week
Overtime Hours per Week
Paid at 1.5 times your base rate. Overtime changes percentage dues only, and only if your contract counts it.
Hours of Pay per Month
Some unions charge part-timers less. Enter your local's figure (e.g., 1.25 hours).
Most hours-based dues run 2 to 2.5 hours of pay a month. Double-check your local's figure.
Dues Rate (% of pay)
Higher than typical. Building-trades working dues can run 4% to 5% of wages, but most percentage dues are lower.
What Your Percentage Applies To
Some contracts take a percentage of all gross pay, some of straight-time pay for every hour worked, and some exclude overtime.
Flat Monthly Dues
If your local bills several months at once, divide the total by the number of months.
Monthly Add-On (basic dues, assessments)
Flat monthly amounts added on top, such as IBEW basic dues or a local assessment. Some locals bill basic dues directly instead of taking them from your paycheck.
Caps & Minimums
Optional. Leave blank if your local has none. Caps and minimums apply to the percentage portion only, not the add-on.
Your maximum is below your minimum. Only the maximum is applied.
Pay Frequency
Initiation Fee & Take-Home
Optional. The initiation fee is a one-time charge set by your local's bylaws. Take-home is your net pay per paycheck before dues come out.
Spread limited to one year of paychecks.
During the payoff period, the initiation installment also comes out.
Dues exceed the take-home you entered.
Gross pay per paycheck is a yearly average. On a semi-monthly or monthly schedule, hourly pay varies from check to check.
Estimates only, not tax or legal advice. Dues come out after taxes. Your local's bylaws set the exact formula, caps, and assessments, and the rules vary by local, contract, and union constitution and change over time. Check the bylaws or your dues notice, or confirm with your pay stub or dues office.
Dues per Paycheck by Pay Schedule
Initiation Fee
TimeClock44
Hours Tracker
Know the Gross Pay Your Dues Are Based On
If your dues are a percentage, they move with your gross pay. TimeClock44 logs your shifts, breaks, and overtime, so you know what you earned each week.
Free · No sign-up needed
How Union Dues Are Calculated
Every local sets dues through its bylaws, the international union's constitution, and the contract it bargains. The numbers change over time, but almost every formula falls into one of three patterns, sometimes with a flat add-on stacked on top.
Hours of pay per month
The union takes a set number of hours of your base pay each month. The Teamsters' 2026 dues flyer describes it as your hourly base rate multiplied by 2.5, assessed monthly, so a member earning $20 an hour pays $50 a month. Other unions use 2 or 2.25 hours, some tie the number of hours to the size of a strike fund, and some charge part-timers half. Because the formula uses your base rate, overtime does not change it.
A percentage of your pay
Public-sector and service unions often charge a percentage of monthly pay. SEIU Local 1021 charges 1.4% of gross monthly salary (effective January 2025). WFSE/AFSCME Council 28 charges 1.5% of gross monthly salary, with a $142.12 monthly maximum effective July 1, 2026. Many percentage formulas carry a monthly cap, and some set a minimum so members with low hours still pay a floor amount.
Flat dues and add-on assessments
Some unions charge the same amount every month no matter what you earn. IBEW Local 3, for example, publishes a flat dues total of $319.00 for A Construction members for the six months from October 2026 through March 2027. Other locals add a flat monthly assessment, such as $12, on top of an hours-of-pay or percentage formula. Enter amounts like that in the Monthly Add-On field.
| Union or local | Formula | Source date |
|---|---|---|
| Teamsters | 2.5 times base hourly rate, per month | 2026 dues flyer |
| SEIU Local 1021 | 1.4% of gross monthly salary | Effective January 2025 |
| WFSE/AFSCME Council 28 | 1.5% of gross monthly salary, $142.12 monthly maximum | Maximum effective July 1, 2026 |
| Mid-America Carpenters | 4% working assessment on gross wages | Illinois Heavy and Highway wage addendum, April 2024 |
| Western Washington carpenters | 5% of the taxable hourly wage rate, times all hours worked | Rate sheet, June 2024 to May 2025 |
| IBEW Local 3 | $319.00 flat for six months (A Construction) | October 2026 to March 2027 |
Working Dues vs. Basic Dues in the Building Trades
Building-trades unions usually split dues in two. Basic dues are a flat monthly amount you owe every month you're a member, whether or not you're working. Working dues are a percentage of your wages, taken from each paycheck while you're on a job.
The two are often collected differently. Some locals bill basic dues directly and expect payment by a set day each month, while working dues come straight out of your check. So the total this calculator shows is your full dues cost spread across your paychecks, and part of it may not show up on your pay stub at all.
Working dues rates vary widely. The Mid-America Carpenters' Illinois Heavy and Highway wage addendum (April 2024) sets a working assessment of 4% of gross wages. Western Washington carpenters (June 2024 to May 2025 rate sheet) pay 5% of the taxable hourly wage rate for every hour worked, which counts overtime hours at the straight-time rate. A local that charges 2.25% working dues on gross pay, plus flat basic dues, follows the same pattern.
To model this, pick % of gross, enter the working dues rate, choose what the percentage applies to, and put basic dues in the Monthly Add-On field. At $45 an hour, with 40 regular hours plus 8 overtime hours a week, 2.25% working dues on all gross pay come to $228.15 a month. Add $45 of monthly basic dues (an illustrative figure) and the total is $273.15 a month, or $126.07 per biweekly paycheck. If you work prevailing-wage jobs, the prevailing wage calculator covers the pay side.
From Monthly Dues to Your Paycheck
Unions state dues by the month, but you are paid weekly, biweekly, or semi-monthly. This calculator multiplies monthly dues by 12 and divides by the number of paychecks you get in a year: 52, 26, 24, or 12. At $62.50 a month, that is $750.00 a year, which works out to $14.42 weekly, $28.85 biweekly, or $31.25 semi-monthly.
One public-sector council does the same math in its own published figures. It caps its 1.75% dues at $65 a month and lists that cap per paycheck as $15.00 weekly, $30.00 biweekly, and $32.50 semi-monthly, which is exactly $65 times 12 divided by 52, 26, and 24.
Some payroll systems handle flat and hours-based dues differently. They deduct half the monthly amount from the first two checks of each month and skip the third check in the two months that have three biweekly paydays. On $62.50 a month, that is $31.25 on each of the first two checks and nothing on the third. The yearly total is the same; only the timing changes. Percentage dues come out of every check, because each check's gross pay is different. Our guide to 3-paycheck months in 2026 shows which months those are.
Rounding explains small gaps. Per-paycheck amounts are rounded to the cent, so 26 checks of $28.85 total $750.10, which is 10 cents more than the $750.00 annual figure.
What Changes Your Dues: Overtime, Raises, Caps, and Initiation Fees
Overtime. Hours-of-pay dues ignore overtime. Percentage dues depend on what your contract counts: all gross pay including the overtime premium, straight-time pay for every hour worked, or regular hours only. At $45 an hour with 40 regular and 8 overtime hours a week, 2.25% dues come to $228.15 a month on all gross pay, $210.60 on straight-time pay for all 48 hours, and $175.50 on regular hours only. If overtime swings your pay from week to week, the overtime calculator shows the gross your dues may be based on.
Raises. Both hours-of-pay and percentage formulas scale with your rate, so a negotiated raise pushes your dues up too. Use the pay raise calculator to find your new rate, and the retroactive pay calculator if a new contract comes with back pay.
Caps and minimums. These apply to the percentage part of your dues. If 1.75% of your base pay comes to $75.83 a month under a $65 cap, you pay $65.00. A minimum works the other way and lifts low percentage dues up to a floor. Flat add-ons such as basic dues or assessments sit outside the cap.
Initiation fees. These are a one-time cost set by local bylaws, and federal law bars a union from charging one under a union-security agreement in an amount the National Labor Relations Board finds excessive or discriminatory. If you pay a $125.00 fee over 3 paychecks, the calculator shows $41.66 on the first two and $41.68 on the last, so the installments add up to the exact fee.
All figures on this page are estimates only and are not tax, legal, or financial advice. Dues rules vary by local, contract, and union constitution, and they change over time, so check your local's bylaws or dues notice for your exact formula. TimeClock44 logs every shift on your phone, so you have a record of the hours and overtime your dues are based on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about union dues calculator
How are union dues calculated?
Most unions use one of three formulas: a set number of hours of your base pay each month, a percentage of your pay, or a flat monthly amount. The Teamsters' 2026 dues flyer uses hours, putting dues at 2.5 times your base hourly rate, assessed monthly. SEIU Local 1021 uses a percentage and charges 1.4% of gross monthly salary (effective January 2025). Building-trades locals often combine flat basic dues with working dues taken as a percentage of each paycheck. Your local's bylaws and contract, along with the union constitution, set the exact formula and any caps or extra assessments.
How much are union dues per month?
It depends on your pay and your local's formula. Under the 2.5-hours rule in the Teamsters' 2026 dues flyer, a worker earning $20 an hour pays $50 a month, and $25 an hour works out to $62.50. Percentage rates vary too: SEIU Local 1021 charges 1.4% of gross monthly salary (effective January 2025), and WFSE/AFSCME Council 28 charges 1.5% of gross monthly salary with a $142.12 monthly maximum (effective July 1, 2026). Building-trades working dues run higher, such as the 4% of gross wages in the Mid-America Carpenters' Illinois Heavy and Highway wage addendum (April 2024). There's no single national figure, so your local's dues notice is the place to check.
Are union dues taken out pre-tax?
No. Union dues come out of your pay after taxes, so they do not lower your taxable wages the way a traditional 401(k) contribution does. A Western Washington carpenters' rate sheet (June 2024 to May 2025), for example, lists supplemental dues among deductions taken after taxes have been deducted. The dues figure from this calculator comes out of your take-home pay, so don't enter it as a pre-tax deduction in the take-home paycheck calculator. Our guide to reading your pay stub shows where dues sit among post-tax deductions.
Are union dues tax deductible?
Not on your federal return if you're an employee. Employees haven't been able to deduct union dues federally since 2018, when miscellaneous itemized deductions were suspended, and P.L. 119-21 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) made that permanent. A few narrow groups, such as qualified performing artists and fee-basis government officials, have separate rules. Some states still allow a deduction. New York residents who itemize on their state return can deduct union dues on Form IT-196, and Pennsylvania lets employees claim union dues, agency fees, and initiation fees on PA Schedule UE. State rules change, so check your state's current instructions or ask a tax professional.
Do union dues change with overtime?
Only under some formulas. Hours-of-pay dues use your base or straight-time rate, so overtime does not change them. Percentage dues depend on what your contract counts. Some take a percentage of all gross wages, overtime premium included, like the Mid-America Carpenters' 4% working assessment (April 2024). Others count every hour worked at the straight-time rate but not the premium, like the Western Washington carpenters' rate sheet (June 2024 to May 2025). Some use base pay only and leave overtime out. At $45 an hour with 40 regular and 8 overtime hours a week, 2.25% working dues come to $228.15 a month on all gross pay but $175.50 with overtime left out.
How are monthly union dues split across biweekly paychecks?
The simplest way is to spread the yearly total evenly: monthly dues times 12, divided by 26 paychecks. $62.50 a month becomes $750.00 a year, or $28.85 per biweekly check. One public-sector council publishes its $65 monthly dues cap the same way: $15.00 weekly, $30.00 biweekly, and $32.50 semi-monthly. Some employers instead take a flat monthly deduction from the first two checks of each month ($31.25 each on $62.50 dues) and skip the third check in the two months that have three paydays. Percentage-based dues come out of every check. Our guide to 3-paycheck months in 2026 shows which months those are.
What is a union initiation fee?
A one-time charge to join, set by your local's bylaws. Workers in a newly organized unit often pay none: the Teamsters' 2026 dues flyer says newly organized members pay no initiation fee, while later hires may be charged one under local union bylaws. Federal law bars a union from charging an initiation fee under a union-security agreement in an amount the National Labor Relations Board finds excessive or discriminatory. If your local lets you pay the fee over several paychecks, enter the number of installments to see your first-paycheck and first-year cost.
Do I have to pay union dues?
Not always. The answer turns on your sector, your state, and your contract. In the private sector, federal law allows union-security agreements that require employees in a bargaining unit to pay dues and fees within 30 days of hire. In states that ban those agreements (right-to-work states), paying is your choice. Where the agreements are allowed, employees who don't join and who object can limit what they pay to the share of dues used for representation, known as Beck rights. In the public sector, the Supreme Court held in Janus v. AFSCME (June 27, 2018) that no agency fee or other payment to a public-sector union may be deducted from an employee's pay unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.