Subscription charges for National Union of Journalists will rise this year by an average of £7.40 per year to make up for a downturn in new members signing up.
The union's Annual Delegates Meeting in Birmingham, taking place this weekend, passed the motion after an impassioned plea from General Secretary Jeremy Dear.
He said: "Do you think I want to be standing here asking you to vote for a rise in subscriptions? But sometimes being in the leadership you have to take hard decisions."
He admitted that he had in the past opposed rises in subscriptions at previous ADMs as a delegate, but said the union was better now and was "rightly admired throughout the trade union movement for our fighting spirit".
He said the charges will not be more than 1 per cent of a member's yearly salary, or one-half of 1 per cent for those on the lowest incomes, and amounted to an extra "two pence" per day.
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