Union member outreach calling playbook: blocks, cadence and KPIs

Counsel review is step zero

This playbook describes a program that a local may run inside its limits, and the limits come first. Three rule sets stack on a union phone program: labor law on member rights, internal union governance and election rules under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, and campaign finance and disclosure rules when calls turn legislative or electoral. Where a call falls inside any of them depends on purpose, audience and state. Review the list, the purpose, the script and the retention policy with counsel before the first block, and re-review whenever the purpose changes. Nothing in this playbook is legal advice.

DialBreeze’s own role is narrow: live calls, up to three lines per caller, a human on every answered call. It is not an autodialer, it does not play prerecorded messages, and it does not maintain a membership database. The program’s legitimacy comes from the counsel-reviewed purpose, not from the tool.

List hygiene built on preferences

The member list is a reviewed CSV: member status, worksite, shift, contact preference, do-not-call flag. Two fields do the governance work. Contact preference, because members work schedules that make the standard business day the worst possible window, and a preference honored once should be honored automatically forever. And the do-not-call flag, which is permanent across every purpose and every queue the moment it is set.

Access to the list is limited to authorized staff, per a written data policy, because a member record can reveal protected activity, and 29 U.S.C. 157 protects the right to organize and the right to refrain alike. The retention period is set by policy with counsel, not by the tool’s defaults.

The calling week in blocks

Ratification and meeting turnout block, evening. Members called with date, location, absentee logistics and the standing offer of answered questions before the vote. The steward informs and routes; the bargaining committee’s summary or the business agent answers contract questions. Turnout is the measure, not persuasion, and the script never argues a position.

Benefits and grievance block, business hours for those who prefer them. Members between jobs, on leave or waiting on a grievance get the check-in: hearing dates, enrollment windows, certification deadlines. The call captures the referral and the deadline; the benefit office does the answering. Identity details never travel on a recorded line.

Shift check-in block, per the preference fields. Stewards reach members by shift, honoring the stated window. These calls are the quiet infrastructure of the local: a steward who knows who has an open question and who asked for evenings.

Retiree and inactive block, monthly. Pension questions, health plan enrollment windows, retiree meeting invitations. The least contested and among the most appreciated calls a local makes, and contact information comes from the local’s own records, never a purchased list.

Political and legislative path, separate or absent. If the local runs one at all, it carries its own consent, its own records and its own counsel confirmation, because public communications can require disclaimers under 11 CFR 110.11 and state rules add more. It never shares the administrative queue.

Cadence and the preference rule

Ratification reminders: two touches maximum, spaced days apart, plus the absentee option in the first. Benefits follow-up: as the deadline requires, never more than twice. General check-ins: quarterly. The preference rule overrides everything: a member who listed evenings is never called midday, and a member who said calls only is never texted. Attempt caps and the do-not-call disposition make the policy automatic, which is what keeps a program like this welcome instead of resented.

Dispositions that keep the program administrative

Confirmed attending, asked a question, contract question, PAC opt-in if that separate program exists, grievance follow-up, wrong shift, prefers evening calls, do not call. Every disposition is administrative: it routes a referral, honors a preference or records a question. None of them record a member’s position on representation or any other protected choice, and the weekly review checks exactly that boundary on every summary.

Three lines and the AI summary workflow

Three lines with a live steward on every answer clear the evening block fast, which matters because evening windows are short. After each connect, the AI writes the transcript and pulls the fields: purpose, question raised, referral needed, contact preference, opt-out. The steward verifies the referral fields against the recording, then routes the same day: benefit questions to the benefit office, contract interpretation to the business agent.

The weekly review covers three things: referrals actually routed, opt-outs actually permanent, and the boundary check, any summary that captured more than preferences, questions and referrals gets pulled and coached immediately. Access stays limited; retention follows the policy.

KPIs for a program whose product is information

• Dials per active calling hour: 70 to 100, median near 85 in DialBreeze production use, 3-line sessions, 90 days. The evening block is the unit that matters.
• Person-connect rate: 12 to 22 percent planned, 17.8 percent production median; preference-driven evening blocks run high.
• Referrals routed same-day: 100 percent. A logged question that reaches the benefit office on Friday instead of Tuesday is a program failure, not a busy week.
• Opt-out permanence: 100 percent, verified weekly.
• Turnout at called meetings: your own baseline, measured against meetings the local did not call. That comparison, and nothing flashier, is the honest test.

The production figures come from 37,411 dials over 90 days to 2026-09-26 in DialBreeze operation, aggregate activity, not customer results and not a promise about the local’s list.

The calling rules that still apply

Members answer on personal cell phones, so the TCPA’s restrictions on autodialed and artificial or prerecorded calls to wireless numbers under 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(1) apply to the program, which is one reason the tool runs live calls only. Calling hours for solicitations run 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local at the member’s location, and stated preferences are honored regardless. Recording requires all-party consent in several states; the disclosure and the retention policy get counsel’s sign-off before recording starts. The counsel review covers the list, the purpose, the script and this whole playbook. Nothing here is legal advice.