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Once long ago, I paid $35/mo into the Teamsters and endured a lengthy stirike with no pay...until the AFLCIO finally stepped in and provided a 1/10th - 1/50th of my lost wages.
Now I could pay rent again and stop eating ramen.
Then I began with the IAM (which the pilots union dropped like a hot iron) and paid $65/mo.
Never saw or heard of a rep for the first year or two.
That local union finally decided I was undesirable as an employee after I stood up and demanded technical proof when my foreman(along with the v.p. of the area) got in my face and demanded I put together a trailer gear without proper lugnuts/studs holding those big wheels together.
Another mechanic called the mfr. and the problem was solved.
That didn't go over well with "the powers that be"...along with my noted objections to a senior mechanic stalking me at my home at night.
After a combination of overwork injuries finally put me under for the next decade or so(still feelin' it), my regular pay gone, the IAM kept charging me the same regular dues. Not the lowered injury dues.
I would call the local office and they would "fix it".
Then, the next month I'd get a bill for hundreds in unpaid past dues.
This continued.
No assistance, no care, and no concern to getting me as a motivated employee back to work.
This was "liberal" California.
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