(Video) UAW 25% dues increase greeted with standing ovation

For the first time since 1967--when General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford dominated the American automobile market place--United Auto Workers delegates approved a dues increase. UAW members will be paying two-and-a-half hours of wages a month in dues--that's up from two hours of pay.

It's a twenty-five percent jump. The money is supposed to go into a strike fund. A labor stoppage would be disastrous for the Big Three and its employees--as I alluded to in the prior paragraph, unlike five decades ago there is a traffic jam of competition for the Detroit automakers. Many of the foreign firms no longer just import cars here.

After two hours of debate today during their Constitutional Convention in Detroit, roughly two-thirds of the UAW delegates voted for the increase. After the vote was result was accepted, delegates clapped and gave a standing ovation, as you will see in this MLive.com video: