Labor Union Communication

Outreach for Organized Labor



Labor Unions are at their best when members feel connected to leadership and informed on the issues that affect them.  Telephone Town Hall Meeting (TTHM) uses its flagship Teletownhall events in conjunction with a host of support services to create those connections.


TTHM has become a specialist in facilitating regular organized labor communications and amplifying critical messaging.  Over the last 15 years, we have used Teletownhalls to create Virtual Union Halls that unite labor across physical distance and disparate schedules.

Check out some of our case studies below.  Then reach out to TTHM for a complimentary demo of our technology over the phone/web.  Wondering what a telephone town hall is?  Curious how our virtual forums work?  Looking to activate union membership that is difficult to engage?  Telephone Town Hall Meeting would love to learn how we can empower your union.

Regular Union Meetings


Regular union meetings at the local, state, national and international level can be a challenge to organize.  TTHM uses Teletownhalls to bridge those gaps and bring labor leadership closer to membership.

The Allied Pilots Association has membership scattered across the country and the world at any given time.  Getting even a single Domicile into the same physical location would be extremely expensive and would take substantial coordination of busy schedules.

Pilots listening on the phone or web have the opportunity to submit questions for the live Q&A with leadership following their company updates. A TTHM Moderator manages the entire event including facilitating Q&A. Members can vote in polls using their phone, and poll results are included in reporting. Individual poll responses are included in reporting, so this feature can also be used to have members self-select for opportunities or followup from their union.

Our Telephone Town Halls can be used to connect international leadership with local leaders for similar moderated meetings with smaller groups.  Some union events are held live and then replayed to accommodate members who need to coordinate around their work schedule.  Each Teletownhall event is recorded and delivered in reporting as a high bitrate MP3.

Omni-Lingual Events


SEIU has Language Preference data for many of its members, allowing TTHM to split the dialout.  The largest dialout (300k+) provides information on joining in English (“just stay on the line to join!”) and in Spanish (“Press 1 to listen to this forum in Spanish”).  Smaller dialouts target members based on their language preference beyond English and Spanish.

Members who prefer a language other than English join a live Alternate Language Simulcast of the main English-language forum.  Each Simulcast features two interpreters and at least one question screener to facilitate Q&A.  TTHM can also create Primary Spanish Teletownhalls with an English Language Simulcast depending on the breakdown of your membership and language capabilities of your leadership.

The main broadcast and each simulcast have their own dedicated Inbound Participant Lines so that members can also join the event manually. We leave those inbound lines on recipient voicemails during dialout so that members who miss our call can still join during the live event.

SEIU International calls over 300,000 active members for their largest events, but TTHM can provide the same services for smaller/larger forums with unions of any size. Translating live events into multiple languages has become an increasingly common service selected by our labor clients, and we have increased our language offerings dramatically as a result.

Webinar Integration


Webinar Integration has become a powerful tool in the TTHM Toolbox.

The Arizona Education Association (AEA) used our Zoom Integration to offer members an advanced participation option. Those members who were not comfortable joining via Zoom joined from our outbound dial to their phone, or dialed into the audio broadcast manually on a dedicated toll-free inbound participant line provided by TTHM. Adding a webcast for your more motivated members while engaging a push-dialout to all member phones ensures broad participation in your Telephone Town Hall.

Zoom fatigue has set in for many people, but for those who love Zoom we can provide an audio-only Zoom experience, live video of your featured presenters, or additional visual presentation materials. Just remember that you will always get more members to join your forum with the outbound dial of a Teletownhall than the inbound option of webinars. So be sure to tailor your presentation primarily to those members who are listening on the phone while offering supplemental material to those participating online.

Annual Meetings


Teletownhalls can replace in-person/on-location annual meetings at a fraction of the cost.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has held annual meetings for individual Councils using Teletownhalls.  This method can increase attendance at important meetings that were once held entirely on-site at expensive hotels and event spaces, saving unions on travel costs as well as setup costs.

Contract Negotiations/Strike Organization


Our team came up in political mass-communications, so we understand the need for speed. TTHM can help you be the accurate information source for members during negotiations and strikes, even when the other side is trying to muddy the waters. Tell the truth and address member concerns with clarity and conviction by inviting them to a live interactive forum with union leaders.

Moderated Q&A taps screened questions to ensure the conversation stays on-topic.  Most members will just listen and vote in polls, so adding polling questions can be a good form of engagement for those not submitting questions.  Providing a brief education on relevant issues sets the table for your more active and engaged members to ask important questions that continue the conversation and develop a depth of understanding that is impossible with one-way outreach.

Patchthrough Events


Our Patchthrough feature has a ton of uses. Probably some we haven’t even thought of yet.

TTHM can also patch members to an action/advocacy hotline to get them more involved. Give Teletownhall participants the option to patch to a training center for ongoing education. Reporting shows which members used the Patchthrough option so that you can follow up if necessary. Reach out to TTHM with your ideas for utilizing this powerful feature in conjunction with Voice Broadcasts or Teletownhall forums.

In a recent example of successful labor union patching, Carewell (SEIU 503) needed to get members signed up for state-mandated training. We patched Teletownhall participants to their Member Assistance Center where members had additional questions answered and signed up for the required training.

AFSCME holds elected officials accountable by using the Patchthrough feature to send informed members to targeted legislative phones. Targeted Teletownhall dialouts can focus on a single state or federal district, making the patch easy and direct. However, AFSCME has also patched event participants to its own action hotline where an interactive system allows union members to enter their Zip Code/Postal Code to be redirected to their specific legislator.

This feature was never more important than during the COVID pandemic when public-facing unions were asking Congress to Fund the Front Lines. Many public-sector unions found themselves lacking basic protection despite being asked to take risks prior to the availability of vaccines. The Patchthrough feature helped union members amplify their demands.

In a novel use of the tool, WFSE-AFSCME 28 patched Teletownhall event participants to the union’s main office line so everyone who was not already a member could sign up to become a member. Participants were told that the union needed their help securing good contracts in a negotiation year, and that joining existing union members would create a unified front that benefited all employees.

SEIU 1199 used patching to have Home Healthcare workers redirect to a US Senator, asking them to support the Build Back Better Act for their specific benefit.  Home Healthcare workers do incredible, invaluable work but often get left out of public funding in favor of budget items backed by more money and more lobbying power.  Empowering members by educating them on important issues then patching them into action can apply direct pressure outside of the typical lobby game.

Making this option part of a larger informational outreach campaign can lead to two additional positive outcomes; community members becoming advocates for labor, and donations that help pay for outreach.

Micro Forums


Telephone Town Hall Meetings can target hundreds of thousands of phones, or they can target only the most invested members of your union and your community. Smaller focused groups of active members or local leaders will cost less because our pricing structure is based on the number of successful connections during dialout.

Training Events


Our Teletownhall platform can also be a training environment, especially when used in conjunction with a Zoom Webinar or Web Simulcast. We can even produce a managed stand-alone Zoom Webinar where our Super Staff creates and manages the Zoom event while your team focuses on providing quality training.

Endorsed Candidates


Feature endorsed candidates that are forwarding the interests of labor. Then have them stick around to answer vetted questions from members. If a candidate gets your union’s endorsement, make sure you hold them accountable by putting them in front of your members virtually. Reporting for each event includes a high bitrate recording of the entire forum so that accountability goes beyond the live event.

TELETOWNHALL EVENT FEATURES


Every Telephone Town Hall Meeting is a full-service production managed by an experienced team of setup specialists, live event operators and moderators. Below you can learn about how we leverage our in-event features to engage and activate the live forum audience.

Polling Questions

Feel out your membership on key issues, identify strong advocates, and gather opt-ins for ongoing outreach during a live Teletownhall.

Polling questions can ask members which issues are most important to them, which problems they face most often in the workplace, or which solutions they favor. TTHM can also use the polling feature to tag members who want to take specific action after the virtual forum. Use a poll to ask members to opt-in for advocacy opportunities, upcoming training opportunities, or events with the union. The polling feature has even been used to ask telephone town hall participants if they require support for an un-filed or ongoing grievance with their employer.

ie. “Press 1 if you’re ready to show solidarity by wearing a specific color on Fridays, Press 2 if you’re ready to join a rally, Press 3 if you want to become a vocal advocate and share your story, Press 4 for All of the Above.”

Another dynamic use of this polling feature most often used by labor clients asks if participating members want to opt-in for future updates. Our Data Collection operators are also available to gather personal email addresses and text update opt-ins from tele-townhall participants.

With careful planning and an in-event verification process, Telephone Town Hall Meetings can even be used to ratify agreements and to authorize strikes.  Our live event operators and detailed reporting combine to help confirm the validity of each vote.

Event Management

Patch-to-Action

Voicemail Feature

Get additional feedback from members who are not comfortable with going live in the forum, or who need additional support from their union. The inbound voicemail feature connects you with members who may be reluctant to provide you with information during the live event.

For some labor events we do not take any questions at all during the Telephone Town Hall. Instead, our moderator works with union leaders to drive participating members to leave a Voicemail with their comments, questions or testimonials. Members leave voicemails by Pressing 9 during the forum or by staying on the line at the end of the teletownhall.

Data Processing

We process your data and can scrub out mobile phones when required for legal purposes. In some cases, we use Text Alerts to deliver compliant messaging or ask for Teletownhall event opt-ins. Most labor unions are able to legally reach out to active and retired members on their mobile phones for the purpose of discussing union business.

TTHM can also source targeted landline and/or mobile phone data to help you deliver messaging to engaged members of the public. We source our dialing/texting data from improved voter files to ensure that the households you reach are active on Election Day.

Compliance & Data Privacy

The TTHM event setup and production team is next-level. We have helped multiple unions combine their efforts into a single Teletownhall while keeping their dialing data and event reporting separate. Separate dialouts, separate reporting, same forum. A united front.

TTHM is also able to scrub dialing and reporting data from its systems after an event to further protect your data on request. Let us know how we can comply with your internal protocols while still producing dynamic outreach.

Rapid Reporting with Recording and Actionable Data!

Telephone Town Hall Meeting typically completes reporting within hours of your live forum. We can even keep dialing data sets separate to provide unique reports by list or by local.

Schedule a Free TTHM Demo/Consultation

We are always happy to provide a complimentary consultation with a TTHM virtual outreach specialist to determine which services best fit your union’s goals.

Request a Demo

Want to get a closer look at how it works?
Get in touch with us now to schedule a demo of our outreach technology and services.