The collective bargaining agreement covers every full-time faculty member in the bargaining unit, whether or not they join. Membership is a separate choice. This page explains what it costs and what it buys.
What it costs
Annual dues for 2026–2027:
| Dues | Annual |
| OEA | $562 |
| NEA | $234 |
| Local (YSU-OEA) | $150 |
| UniServ (Labor Relations) | $74 |
| District (NEOEA) | $38 |
| Total | $1058 |
Lecturer Dues
For the five years that a faculty member is a lecturer, they receive a 38% reduction in their dues: $657.60 total for 2026 – 2027.
For Autopay, this results in 20 payments of $32.88.
For payroll deduction, this is $27.40 per paycheck.
Once a faculty member is promoted to Senior Lecturer, they pay full dues.
How dues are paid
AutoPay — the chapter’s preferred method. Either twenty electronic payments on the first and fifteenth of each month from October through July, at about $52.90 each, or a single payment in full in October by credit card or electronic transfer.
The Autopay enrollment window for 26-27 closed on October 1.
Payroll deduction. Twenty-four deductions of $44.08 from paycheck on the first and fifteenth of each month, August 31 through September 1 (year-round).
Why we prefer AutoPay
Payroll deduction is convenient, and it has one structural weakness: it runs through the university’s payroll system and depends on state law continuing to permit it. Neither of those is under our control.
Several states have ended payroll dues deduction for public employee unions. Membership falls sharply when that happens — not because members decide to leave, but because the mechanism disappears and re-enrolling is a step most people never get around to. A union can lose a large share of its membership without a single person choosing to quit.
AutoPay is an arrangement between you and the Association. It does not run through the university, and it does not depend on what the legislature does next. If you are already on AutoPay, a change in the law is a news item rather than a disruption to your membership.
That is the whole of the reason. It is not about convenience, and it is not a nudge for its own sake.
Where the money goes
About fourteen percent stays at YSU. The rest buys scale, and it is worth being plain about why that is the arrangement rather than pretending the local keeps most of it.
- Local — $150. Chapter operations, the negotiating team, grievance representation, and release time for the officers who handle cases.
- UniServ — $74. A labor relations consultant shared across locals, who assists with grievances, arbitration and bargaining. This is the expertise a 400-person chapter could not employ on its own.
- OEA — $562. Statehouse lobbying, the legal services program that defends members’ employment rights, the attorney referral program, and research capacity.
- NEA — $234. National advocacy and the Educators Employment Liability program, which is funded entirely from dues.
- NEOEA — $38. Regional coordination and professional development.
Benefits
Professional liability insurance
The NEA Educators Employment Liability Program covers every eligible member. It is funded from dues — there is no separate fee and nothing to enroll in.
- Legal defense costs up to $3 million per occurrence in civil proceedings arising from your employment duties, and damages up to $1 million.
- Up to $300,000 for defense, settlement or judgments in civil rights proceedings.
- Reimbursement of attorney fees up to $35,000 if you are charged under a criminal statute in the course of your employment duties and are exonerated, or the charges are withdrawn or dismissed.
- Bail bond premium up to $1,000, and up to $500 for personal property damaged in an assault at work.
Two features worth understanding. Coverage runs twenty-four hours a day, on and off campus, worldwide, as long as you are performing employment activities. And it is an occurrence policy — what matters is whether you were a member when the incident happened, not when the claim arrives. A suit filed years later over something that happened while you were a member is still covered, even if you have since left. Some provisions vary by state.
Attorney referral, for personal matters
The NEA/OEA Attorney Referral Program gives you two free thirty-minute consultations each calendar year, with any participating attorney in the state — you are not limited to the ones nearest you. Your spouse or domestic partner and dependent children are eligible too.
Attorneys do not draft or review documents during a free consultation; the session is to work out whether you need further help. If you do, five core areas of legal work are available at a thirty percent discount.
This is for personal legal matters, not employment ones. Anything arising from your work at YSU goes through the chapter and the OEA legal services program instead. If you are unsure which you have, ask before you book a consultation.
Discounts
Combined, OEA and its parent organization, the National Education Association (NEA), offer an impressive array of services and benefits, providing members with discounts and financial resources.
The Honest Question
SB 1 removed tenure, workload, evaluation, post-tenure review and most of retrenchment from bargaining. It removed the right to strike.
It is fair to ask what a union is worth when it cannot bargain over those things.
Here is the answer we would give.
The agreement still governs a great deal
Salary and rates of pay. Insurance benefits. Sabbaticals and faculty improvement leaves. All other leaves. Appointment types and their durations. The non-reappointment procedure and its notice requirements. Academic freedom. Intellectual property. Personnel files. The grievance procedure covers every one of those, and the chapter enforces them.
The chapter has a seat inside the Board processes
The Association appoints two of the five members of the committee that hears an annual performance evaluation appeal, and two of the five that hears a tenure appeal. The Association president is notified at multiple stages of a tenure case. Where the contract no longer reaches, the chapter is still in the room — because it is written into the Board’s own policies.
Representation when something goes wrong
An investigatory meeting with a dean. A negative evaluation that starts a clock toward post-tenure review. A non-reappointment notice in December. Liability insurance through NEA and attorney referral through OEA, both described above. These are the things members most often discover they need at short notice.
A vote on your own contract
Members ratify the agreement. Non-members are covered by it but do not vote on it.
And if SB 1 falls
Every carve-out in this agreement is written subject to Article 24, Separability. If the law is overturned or amended, those subjects return to the bargaining table. That only helps if there is still a functioning chapter with the membership and the capacity to bargain them back. A union that thins out during the years it is constrained is not there when the constraint lifts.
How to join
Contact the Treasurer (treasurer@ysuoea.org) or the President (president@ysuoea.org). There is a PDF form to fill out; unfortunately, you cannot join using OEA’s online process at this time. You will receive an OEA ID and then can use it to enroll in Autopay.
If you are new, see New Faculty: Start Here. If you have questions about dues, ask before you decide — nobody minds the question.