Organizing Tip of the Week: Utilize New Member and Recruitment Kits

(National Federation of Federal Employees)

A number of resources, including both information and supplies, are available to NFFE Locals to aid with recruiting efforts. Some great examples are NFFE’s recruitment and new member kits.

The NFFE National Office has provided new member kits to Locals for many years now.  The kits, which come in a NFFE-IAM bag, contain welcome letters to the new member from NFFE National President William R. Dougan and IAM International President R. Thomas Buffenbarger, a copy of NFFE’s most recent newsletter, information on NFFE benefits, and a variety of NFFE trinkets.  These are provided free of charge by the National Office, and are to be given exclusively to dues paying members.

New Member Kits can be given to new union members as soon as they sign up, or can be delivered a short time later, as a means of following up with the newest members of your Local.  Make sure you take advantage of this opportunity to thank them for their membership, and welcome them to the NFFE family. 

More recently, we developed a recruitment kit to hand out to potential members. Like the new member kit, it comes in a NFFE-IAM bag and contains an assortment of literature and union items.  However, the pamphlets and flyers in these kits are geared toward getting a prospective member to join, rather than simply welcoming them to the union. These kits are also provided to Locals at no cost, and can be given to anyone in your bargaining unit.

Handing a prospective member a recruitment kit is not a substitute for talking to them about your Local and asking them to get involved, but they are a great supplement to your conversations with bargaining unit employees.  Leaving them with literature to look over, and a blank 1187 form, increases the chance that they will continue to think about joining NFFE after you are finished talking to them.

Please keep in mind that new member and recruitment kits are provided at no cost to your Local.  Make sure that you request supplies based on your actual need.  Please also note that in order to keep shipping costs down, all orders are shipped via UPS Ground.  It can take upwards of two weeks to process and ship your order, so make sure you allow plenty of time when you request these supplies.

To order new member or recruitment kits, please contact your Organizing Coordinator (see map below) or NFFE National Office Manager Amy Burns, at aburns@nffe.org.