Section 1. The dues of the Local Union Members affiliated with the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, and with the Michigan State Utility Workers Council, shall be paid monthly to the National Union in accordance with the Constitution of the Utility Workers Union of America, as outlined in Article VI of said Constitution. The dues paid to the National Union will continue to be adjusted each January in accordance with the National Constitution. However, if the dues to the National Union are increased in any subsequent year, that amount will be absorbed by the Council.

Section 2. (a) The remaining portion of dues collected shall be split on a 55/45 basis, 55 being the Local's portion and 45 being the Michigan State Utility Workers Council's portion. The 55/45 split shall remain in effect unless the Michigan State Utility Workers Council's liquid assets (including money balances in all accounts, checking, savings, money markets, certificates of deposit and investment funds, excluding fixed assets, e.g. property, buildings, inventories and equipment) fall below Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($450,000), in which case the structure would revert back to a 50/50 split. Should the circumstance arise for the 50/50 split to be reinstated, the Council's liquid financial assets as defined above would have to increase to Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($550,000) before the 55/45 split would be reinstated. The liquid asset amounts referred to in this section will be calculated the day after monthly per capita dues are paid. The dues to Local Union Members affiliated with the Council shall be adjusted henceforth on the following basis: Each calendar year that a general wage increase occurs, shall result in a one cent (1¢) per hour increase in dues, based on a forty (40) hour week. The increase, if any, will be for the first general increase only, in any given year, and shall occur concurrently with the effective date of the scheduled increase in wages. For any year that a guaranteed Cost of Living Adjustment is in effect, that increase shall be construed as a general increase (for purposes of this article and section), if the increase is more of an increase than the actual Cost of Living Adjustment would have been were the guarantee not in effect.

(b) Once each year at the May Regular Council Meeting, the Delegates shall vote on whether the automatic dues increase for Local Union Members authorized in Section 2(a), above, shall go into effect for the current year, with the approval of a majority of the Delegates voting being required.

(c) For any subsequent year that the dues would have exceeded the one cent (1¢) per hour increase outlined in Section 1 herein, if the Council had been operating under the automatic dues increase provisions outlined in the National Constitution (Article VI), the Delegates, may at their option, choose to raise the dues to Local Union Members affiliated with the Council to the next highest one-half cent (1/2¢) per hour amount based on a forty (40) hour week.

Section 3. If any member or members of any Local or Locals, for any reason whatsoever, are exonerated from payment of dues by the National office of the Utility Workers Union of America in accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws of the National Union, they shall continue to be carried on the books of the Council as members in good standing, with full voice and vote for such period of time as may be determined by the National office of the UWUA, AFL-CIO.

Section 4. New members shall be required to pay an initiation fee not to be more than the maximum set forth in the National Constitution.