Leading or managing a union requires you to maximize your time and resources. And, in the spirit of cooperation and partnership you must have a comprehensive communication strategy to ensure all union members are on the same page. Your union relies on the support and participation of its members, so it’s critical to be able to reach even the busiest members with important news, event changes and negotiations.
Mass text message software for unions, also known as short message service (SMS), allows you to get in touch with your key members in minutes. You can craft personalized reminders to boost member engagement and increase event attendance. SMS is the effective communication channel you need to manage your union’s day-to-day needs.
1. Reminders About Paying Dues
Union members must pay dues to your organization to renew their membership status and receive representation. Typically, these dues are collected monthly or annually. As with any recurring payments or invoices, it’s not uncommon for individuals to forget to pay their dues on time.
Your workers lead busy lives juggling their jobs, family commitments and community activities. However, holding an uncomfortable conversation with members who have missed a payment may not be the best use of your time. If several workers miss their payments, it can become a challenge to track them down and resolve their union dues. This can result in losing the funds you need to support your initiatives.
Using SMS for labor union communications, you can send a friendly yet urgent reminder to members who have a missed payment. They’ll receive a text message on their mobile device with a simple, short message that guides them to the payment portal. Here’s an example of how you can use SMS to send reminders about dues:
- “Hello [Name]! We just wanted to remind you that you are currently behind on your [Union Name] dues. To remain an active member, please make your payment online at your earliest convenience. Click this link [Link] for convenient online payment options.”
2. Emergency and Safety Alerts
The ability to quickly send emergency text alerts can help keep your members and volunteers safe and prevent a crisis. Text messaging for unions enables you to send warnings, notifications, urgent reminders and safety advisories about:
- Inclement weather.
- Natural disasters.
- Workplace incidents.
- Suspicious activities.
- Traffic congestion or accidents.
- Route changes.
- Community emergencies.
Contacting your members and volunteers via SMS can keep everyone in the loop about union strikes, agreements and workplace notifications. For example, you’ll need to reach your members as soon as possible if there’s an emergency or poor air quality on a worksite. Emergency and safety alerts allow you to get in touch with your members and confirm whether their workplace has provided them with adequate safety measures and equipment.
If a union strike occurs, you can get everyone on the same page in minutes. With bulk SMS messaging, you can also create a preloaded distribution list so you can contact the exact group of people who need to be informed.
Here’s an example of what an emergency alert for a union might read:
- “Hello [Name]! This is a union-wide safety alert. Due to severe thunderstorms, we will be postponing our regularly scheduled meeting until further notice. Stay safe!”
3. Assembling Union Members
Your members are the lifeblood of your union. Their engagement is critical to your union’s strength and growth, which is why it’s important to have an effective means of assembling your members. Reaching your members wherever they are can ensure your message will be heard. Whether you need to hold a meeting to keep everyone up to date on current issues, inform them of an upcoming board member election or send a message urging them to mobilize, you can rely on SMS to contact your members immediately.
SMS enables you to speak directly to your members and keep them engaged in ongoing developments, which can also foster a sense of connection, community and trust within your organization. Because your union members will not always be in the same place when important news needs to be shared, you can use SMS messaging to streamline communication and keep operations running smoothly.
4. Last-Minute Updates
Communicating last-minute updates, such as schedule or venue changes, is key to keeping your union together. Playing phone tag or trying to reach members by email can be time-consuming and frustrating. With SMS solutions, you can contact your members as soon as you have news. Sending real-time updates about strikes or scheduling is also important for protecting your member’s time and efforts. Miscommunication or failure to communicate in a timely manner can affect the success of your union.
Text messaging is highly effective for real-time updates ahead of an event. You can also send out agenda details ahead of a meeting so members can come prepared with talking points, ideas and questions. Hosting an urgent meeting on a different day than usual? You can get this message across to everyone through SMS to increase attendance, engagement and participation. A last-minute update via union SMS may read:
- “Hello [Name]. We will be hosting an urgent meeting tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at [Venue] regarding our recent deliberations. Reply YES to confirm your attendance. Thanks for your support!”
5. Event Reminders
Your members have busy schedules. Among all the responsibilities they juggle, it’s possible that an upcoming meeting or event may slip their mind. However, meeting preparation and attendance are critical to your union. Solutions like SMS for unions make it easy to remind all members of important events. While emails can be effective for those who check their inbox often, some union members may not see an email soon enough before an important meeting. SMS messaging is a highly effective reminder system that enables you to send messages like:
- “Hello [Name]! This is a reminder that we will be hosting our monthly meeting tomorrow at [Venue] at 6:00 p.m. We will discuss upcoming goals and gather feedback on recent negotiations. All members are encouraged to attend and participate!”
6. Increasing Union Support and Engagement
You can use SMS solutions to improve union member engagement by delivering quick, relevant information in a convenient way. As opposed to long newsletters or lengthy emails that can be tedious to read, texts are a more efficient way to get your members to read and engage with your content. Additionally, while SMS messages do not have a character limit per se, sending texts under 160 characters helps you provide the most important details upfront. This can help you prevent too many messages at once that cause members to opt out.
With SMS solutions, you can ensure your members only receive news on the topics, events and issues that matter most to them. If some members are unable to attend a regular meeting, for example, you can send an SMS message with a brief summary of the meeting or provide a link to important documents. This way, members who were present or absent will know about important decisions and activities.
7. Membership Confirmations
When new members officially join your union, you can use SMS to send convenient membership confirmations. This lets your members know that they can receive urgent alerts, reminders and important news through SMS for their convenience. A membership confirmation message might read:
- “Hello [Name]! Thank you for joining the [Union Name]. We’re looking forward to representing you and relying on your support. Reply YES to receive text messages about upcoming meetings, urgent alerts and important news. Rely NO to stop.”
You can also use SMS to reach out to individuals interested in joining your union. When they opt in for texts, you can send messages to them to learn more about your union, such as the benefits of membership, and ask questions about your organization. Membership renewals may be sent to existing members to remind them that their renewal date is approaching. This can help you maintain union support and help members stay on top of their union dues.
8. Apprenticeship Opportunity Reminders
SMS offers an effective way to promote union apprenticeship programs or message current apprentices. For example, you can update prospective members on upcoming opportunities for them to participate and get involved. You can also use SMS for union training programs and send event reminders to boost social and professional networking among your members.
Because you have a common goal, it’s important to encourage new and existing members to collaborate with like-minded individuals to push your initiatives forward. Keep your apprentices engaged from the get-go with message reminders about testing times and dates, venue changes or upcoming education opportunities in their chosen area of expertise.
These opportunity reminders via SMS can increase involvement in comprehensive labor union education, practical training, representation and shadowing. Hearing directly from your union can also help solidify an individual’s interest in pursuing a union apprenticeship. You can keep them in the loop about recruiting events, application details and qualifications.
Higher attendance at your apprenticeship events or demonstrations can build rapport among your members and volunteers. Networking fosters communication, which is the backbone of your union. With SMS solutions, you can quickly spread the word to everyone on your contact list to mobilize.
An example of opportunity reminders may look like:
- “Hello [Name]! We’re excited to announce our union apprenticeship training event on July 8 at 4:00 p.m. We encourage all those interested in a union apprenticeship to attend and ask questions. This is a great opportunity to network with current union members! Reply YES to confirm your attendance!”
9. Member Feedback
It’s no secret that most individuals are dependent on their mobile devices to communicate and complete tasks like paying bills. In fact, nine in 10 Americans own a smartphone as of 2024. As a union leader or manager, you have to hear directly from your members in order to truly represent them.
It’s important to reach your members where they are if you want to connect on necessary topics, such as:
- General feedback.
- Employment conditions satisfaction.
- Contract negotiations.
- Validating management claims.
Feedback, for example, is an invaluable aspect of running a successful union. However, traditional methods of gathering member feedback can go unheard, especially if they require too much effort from users. SMS solutions can help you deliver concise, efficient surveys right to your member’s mobile devices.
Mobile surveys are much more convenient, which means you can expect a higher completion rate. SMS gives you the ability to send customized, conversational surveys that your members are not likely to overlook.
Some general feedback surveys sent through an SMS link might include questions about how much your members trust your union leadership or how satisfied they are with your communication. You can also ask members for their opinions and ideas on how to increase their engagement in the union.
Here’s an example:
- “Hello [Name]! We’ve just launched our quarterly survey. We’d love your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming contract, and submit your ideas. Access the five-minute survey with this link [Link]. Thank you for all your support!”
10. Labor Negotiation News
Labor contract negotiations are a vital component of union organizations. As a union leader or manager, it’s your responsibility to keep members informed as negotiations are underway. Members will appreciate receiving updates on contract negotiations regarding their:
- Terms of employment.
- Job health and safety policies.
- Working conditions.
- Pay.
- Benefits.
- Hours.
- Leave.
During the negotiation process, you and other union representatives will bargain with employers, exchange proposals and reach a written agreement. It’s critical that you keep employees informed, as they have a voice in whether your union will accept a contract. Contacting and consulting your members via SMS can help streamline the negotiation process by speeding up delays and gathering feedback as soon as possible.
You can send messages with brief details or new developments to keep them informed and strengthen their support. Additionally, you can use SMS with links to surveys, documents or URLs that help facilitate the negotiation process.
11. Open Lines of Communication
Efficient, effective communication is vital for your union. Your members rely on your outreach and information to improve their working conditions. Instead of trying to keep track of fragmented emails and missed phone calls, you can use SMS to deliver important news the minute it occurs. SMS solutions also provide union members with a clear path to you and other union representatives.
Unlike more formal forms of communication that require more time and effort, most people can quickly read and respond to a text message in minutes. SMS messaging is a two-way conversation that enables union members to provide their input, ask questions or contact management when needed. With an open line of communication via SMS, you can instill confidence in your members and assemble them at a moment’s notice.
SMS text messages are also much more likely to be read and responded to compared to other forms of communication like email, which has a 13% open rate. SMS captures people’s attention and maintains a 98% open rate. Additionally, users tend to read 90% of texts within three minutes of delivery.
Improve Union Engagement With SMS Solutions From Red Oxygen
Efficient communication is key to cultivating union support. With the power of SMS, you can keep union members in the loop no matter where they are or what they’re doing. As one of the most effective communication channels, SMS streamlines your workflow and enables you to grow your union network.
SMS solutions from Red Oxygen make it easy to reach busy professionals and inform them about your upcoming events or last-minute updates. You can send and receive personalized text messages from your Gmail or Microsoft 365 accounts or the Red Oxygen WebSMS site to any mobile device on an international level. Want to learn more about sending bulk texts to increase union communication? Request a demo today to learn more about Red Oxygen’s SMS features.
