The National Workers Union is a small trade union based in Trinidad and Tobago. For those whose geography is not so good, we are the southern most Caribbean island. On a map, we are a little dot just 11 miles off the coast of Venezuela.
We are probably unusual amongst trade unions in Trinidad in that we use Linux (Ubuntu) and open source software on all our computers. In preparing this article I checked the Civi Forum and found my first query was in September 2007. So I guess we might have been using CiviCRM since version 2.x and possibly 1.x.
As a trade union, our primary need is to maintain a list of members and record union dues. We have a legal requirement to submit annual returns showing how many members we have and a gender breakdown. Early on, we worked out how to set up Rules to show membership status which helped with this.
We also worked out how to change words like check for cheque which made Civi more comfortable to use. As a trade union, we need to maintain a number of different relationships. Our members are allocated to a union branch, but they also work for an employer, might be in a specific bargaining unit and hold a union office. Additionally, we maintain membership records for two affiliated unions, and so having the ability to set up different types of contact has been vital. One of the beauties of Civi is its flexibility.
We have had some challenges. As far as we know, we are the only Civi user in Trinidad and probably the Caribbean. That means we have had to try and do most things ourselves.
Upgrading has always been a step too far for us. We originally had our site hosted by one of these big US hosting companies (which shall remain unnamed) who said they could maintained open source software. That was fine until they messed up an upgrade and then suggested we find a professional to rescue us from the chaos they had created!
Ironically, this forced us to find (at some significant cost) some local techie people who had to learn Civi in order to undo the damage. The spin off is that we now some some local technical knowledge about how to install and upgrade Civi and are looking at ways, with this local knowledge, to introduce Civi to other trade unions in Trinidad.
Over the years, we have gradually expanded our use of Civi. We wanted to use CiviCase, but in versions prior to 4.5 found it too difficult to set up. However, we discovered custom fields and built a home made version of CiviCase to track our case work. It does not have to the frills of the real CiviCase, but it did the trick. Since upgrading to version 4.5, we are now setting up CiviCase and are in the process of migrating our case work to that module.
We are also beginning to use CiviEvents. As a trade union we put on trade courses for our union stewards regularly and we are exploring linking this to CiviMail. The use of CiviMail has been another new development for us. We struggled with this for some time (several years in fact) and eventually, through exploring CiviForum, came across CiviSMTP. This has been a big step forward to us. It was relatively easy to set up and we are planning a serious expansion of using CiviMail.
We had established databases in Calc (part of LibreOffice) for doing mail merge letters. We are now looking to use CiviMail and the mail merge to PDF feature of Civi.
A byproduct of all this is we are now gradually moving all our contacts (media, journalists, other trade unions, MP's, Senators) into Civi so that we have all our contacts in one central and very flexible database.
Civi can still be a challenge sometimes.
Our members pay once a month and we have a growing number (several hundred) paying either through their banks or checkoff through the employer. We have been experimenting with the best way to import dues information with as much automation as possible. We have been playing with csv files, profiles and batch data entry. In a way, that's one of the nice things about Civi there is often more than one way to achieve the same objective.
For us, using CiviCRM has been an ongoing project as we teach ourselves how to maximise the use of the programme. As we would say in Trini English: “Dis is we ting now.”
