Labor Day-inspired ideas to strengthen and grow your union

Labor Day is an ideal time to reflect on ways to prepare your union for a bright future. 

Read on for three ideas to help strengthen and grow your organization.

The history of the labor movement in the U.S. is rich, including many years of advocacy for workplace safety; labor laws; and gender, civil, and immigrant rights. And since 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September the annual national Labor Day holiday, the U.S. has formally celebrated American laborers each year. The day honors and recognizes the contributions of workers to the achievements of the United States. We at Aptify are grateful for the progress unions have achieved in workers rights over the years through the commitment of the leaders and dedication of their members.

As we approach Labor Day, it’s a great time to learn about how your labor union can strengthen and continue to make an impact for years to come. Here are a few ideas: 

1. Offer a member-facing portal.

These days, your members expect to be able to interact with organizations – including their union – online. To help you provide them with the experience they expect, offer members an online portal where they can manage payments, orders, and preferences; participate in discussion forums; and answer polls and surveys. A member portal is an essential tool. If you don’t have one, the time is now. From more than 1,000 members of unions and associations surveyed, 63% believe that if organizations don’t transform technologically, they won’t survive the next five years. And the professionals surveyed agreed at almost the same rate, 65%. 

Also, offer your local offices similar self-service capabilities so they can pull reports and access content online. This will make them more self-sufficient and better able to run local campaigns and activities.

According to the 2022 Research Study.

2. Automate your processes.

Freeing up more of your staff time means having more time to devote to your mission. Automate your manual processes – from billing and dues processing to grievance management – so your organization has more time to spend on higher value work. You can do this by using union management software that includes a drag-and-drop process flow editor for easy process automation.

For example, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world’s largest airline pilot union, worked with Aptify union management software to automate processes that synchronize employment records, reconcile monthly dues bills, and provide accurate and timely bills. They also developed a custom solution to streamline the process around union-sponsored insurance products. Find out more in the Air Line Pilots Association case study.

3. Put your data to work.

Your union has a powerful asset: member data. Insights from this data can help your entire organization make more informed decisions, anticipate future organizational and member needs, and deliver a better overall member experience.

To get more value from your data to help your union grow, be sure to:

• Use union management software with a solid customer relationship management (CRM) system on the back end. It should allow you to easily configure fields, records, and online forms, and generally manage the member information collected on your website and by activists in the field.
• Look for software that allows you to score member engagement. By scoring your members’ level of involvement with your organization, you can gauge the health of their relationship with your organization and then find opportunities to deliver more value and get them even more engaged.
• Make sure your software includes easy-to-use, yet detailed, reports so you can get the insights you need to drive your organization forward without needing to rely on your IT team every time. 

Bonus tip: One of the most powerful things you can do to strengthen and grow your union: have the right labor union management software in place.

Your union has special requirements. Aptify has all the tools needed to manage every aspect of your union. Here are some of the essential labor union tools in Aptify:

• Accounting & dues processing specifically for unions
• Local & affiliate management
• Grievance management
• Event & convention management
• Reliable reporting
• Configurable & upgradable

Upgrade your union today so your union can make a greater impact tomorrow.

Learn more
Using Aptify union management software by Community Brands, you can implement the ideas in this article (and more!) to grow your union and prepare for a bright future. Learn more about why Aptify is the ideal union management software for your organization: Explore Aptify for unions.