Union member check-in call script for locals and stewards

Counsel review before the first block

This script sits inside a fit C program, and the first step is not dialing. A local’s phone program touches labor law on member rights, internal election rules under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, and, when calls turn legislative or electoral, campaign finance and disclosure rules. Where any call falls inside those frameworks depends on purpose, audience and state, and no vendor and no script can make that call. Review the list, the purpose and this script with counsel before the first block, and re-review it whenever the purpose changes. Nothing here is legal advice.

The opener that identifies and asks

Members answer the local’s number when they know who is calling and why in the first sentence: name, local, purpose, and a two-minute ask. The purpose line matters more here than in sales calling, because the member’s first question is always what this call wants. “I am calling members on second shift about the ratification vote on the 14th” answers it before it is asked, and the shift reference tells the member the local knows their situation.

The three motions this script covers

Ratification and meeting turnout. Date, location, absentee logistics, and the standing offer: questions answered before the vote, by the right people. The script never argues for a yes or a no; it informs and routes. That neutrality is not timidity, it is the difference between information delivery and pressure, and the distinction protects the local under the member-rights provisions of 29 U.S.C. 157.

Benefits and grievance follow-up. Members between jobs, on leave or waiting on a grievance get the check-in call: the hearing date, the enrollment window, the certification deadline. The call captures the referral and the deadline; the benefit office or the grievance committee does the answering. Nothing about the member’s case gets improvised at the phone, and identity details never travel on a recorded line.

Shift check-ins. Stewards reach members by shift, honoring the window each member asked for. The script asks the preference question explicitly, every first contact, because members work schedules that make the standard business day the worst possible time to call, and a preference honored once should be honored automatically afterward.

The boundaries, said out loud

The script does not ask, record or infer a member’s position on representation or any other protected choice. 29 U.S.C. 157 protects employees’ rights to self-organize, to bargain collectively and to refrain from those activities, and a calling program that tracks protected activity is a serious problem regardless of the technology used. Callers collect preferences, questions and referrals. That is the whole inventory, and the training says so in one sentence.

Political and legislative calls are a separate category entirely. If the local runs them at all, they belong on a separately consented path with their own record system, because public communications can carry disclosure obligations under 11 CFR 110.11 and state rules add layers. Confirm the treatment with counsel before that block exists, not after.

The objection lines, and the ones that end the list

“Stop calling me”

Honored immediately, logged permanently, across every purpose. The do-not-call disposition removes the member from every queue, and the written opt-out policy backs it. A member who asked once should never have to ask twice.

“I am not voting”

The steward’s answer is logistics, not persuasion: the absentee option exists if wanted, and the meeting is open either way. Disposition it as informed, not as persuaded, and leave the vote to the member.

“Who told you to call me”

The honest answer: the local’s membership list, your shift, this purpose. Naming the list and the purpose is both good practice and the natural transparency the question deserves.

“Can you just tell me how to vote”

“No” is the whole answer, said warmly. The bargaining committee’s summary answers what the agreement says; the member decides what it means for them. The script routes the question and stops there.

The close, and the preference that outlasts the call

The close confirms the logistics, and the preference question is the part that compounds: calls after 5, texts for reminders, updated on the record. Every future block inherits the preference automatically, which is what makes the evening block the most productive hour a local runs. The summary’s next-step field carries the referral with its deadline: overtime summary out today, business agent call before Thursday.

Logging before the next dial

Disposition: confirmed attending, asked a question, contract question, grievance follow-up, prefers evening calls, wrong shift, do not call. Then verify the summary’s referral fields against the recording, and route same-day: benefit questions to the benefit office, overtime interpretation to the business agent. Because member records can reveal protected activity, access stays limited to authorized staff and the retention period is set by policy with counsel, not by default.

The calling rules that still apply

Internal member communications are not telemarketing in the ordinary sense, but the calling rules do not vanish: members answer on personal cell phones, and the TCPA’s restrictions on autodialed and artificial or prerecorded calls to wireless numbers under 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(1) still apply, which is one reason DialBreeze runs live calls with a human on every answer. Calling hours for solicitations run 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local at the member’s location, and a stated preferred window is honored regardless. Recording can require all-party consent in several states, so the disclosure and the retention policy get counsel’s sign-off before recording starts. Nothing here is legal advice; it is a description of rules the counsel review will confirm.

Coaching the script from recordings

Pull two calls per steward per week: one ratification reminder, one benefits follow-up. Listen for the identify-and-ask opener, the routing answer on contract questions, and whether the preference question happened. The summaries triage: any summary that captured more than preferences, questions and referrals is a same-day coaching call, because that boundary is the program’s license to exist.