UFCW Local 951 case study

United Food
& Commercial
Workers Union
Local 951
www.ufcw951.org
Background
United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 951 (UFCW 951) is a dynamic labor
union representing more than 33,000 employees across the state of Michigan.
The local union is a voice for Michigan’s workers.
Goals
UFCW 951’s previous website was a static site managed in Dreamweaver. As the union
has grown and labor laws have changed, UFCW 951 is working to provide its members
increased protections and value for their union dues.
Short- and long-term goals for www.ufcw951.org include:
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Industry
Local labor union
Partner
BizStream
11480 53rd Avenue, Suite A
Allendale, Michigan 49401
USA
Contact
Brian McKeiver
www.bizstream.com
3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.
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12.
Move from static website to CMS
Update the look of the site and improve user experience with better design,
architecture, and navigation
Manage and update the site internally with a straight-forward content
management system
Ability to manage many events and news items with minimal time
Promote union membership
Provide members with expansive information
Establish a fully responsive website
Allow members to access members-only information and to securely update
contact information by registering and logging into the website
Ability for vendors to validate union membership
Business representative search
Improve SEO and improve site traffic
Social media integration
Challenges
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Integrate union-specific software with Kentico for member information updates
and union representative search function
Create gateway from general areas of website to members’-only sections
Build vendor look-up
Schedule and maintain membership verification with database records
Create fully responsive site
Solution
Allow members to access members’-only information and to securely update contact
information by registering and logging in to the website
To create custom registration and log-in for union members, BizStream’s developers
built a custom web part. The web part lets UFCW members authenticate their
membership using first name, last name, member number, and zip code. Developers
also created a second option, which allows members to log-in with first name,
last name, zip code, and store number. Using a CSV file that’s manually uploaded to
Kentico’s media library every night, Kentico compares existing data with new data to
keep UFCW 951’s database current.
"It has been a pleasure working
with BizStream on our website
renovation. Helpful, thorough
and pro-active from the start,
the crew at BizStream went
above and beyond to make
sure our expectations were
met. I was pleasantly surprised
to find that they were not only
in tune with what we wanted
out of the UFCW 951 website
functionally, but remained
aware of our budget by
offering cost-saving solutions
throughout the process.
In addition, BizStream has done
a wonderful job of providing
stress-free, ongoing support.”
Ashley Barberi,
Senior Digital Marketing Specialist,
UFCW 951
Vendor look-up
One of the goals of the website is to offer members increased value for their
membership. The union offers members several discounts and services. To ensure
only members are accessing these discounts and services, vendors can now log-in
to the UFCW 951 site and validate members. This feature ties into the existing
member database that’s synchronized every night. In the future, vendors can also
create their own accounts to promote discounts and services.
Business representative search
A primary reason members seek out the UFCW 951 website is to search for their
union representative. BizStream’s team created a custom doc type and custom
tables for reps that contain each union representative’s profile and store
information. Members can look up reps by employer and store number.
Fully responsive website
Recognizing that much of the union membership visits the 951 website from smart phones
and other devices, the labor union knew
designing the site to be fully responsive was a
must. Using designs from an outside agency,
BizStream’s developers created the site using
a responsive grid framework. By adding CSS
media queries, the site recognizes different
device types and adjusts the grid accordingly.
The responsive designs were tested extensively
on BrowserStack, a cross browser tool used to
test compatibility and to debug the code.
Improve SEO and improve site traffic
Kentico's built-in SEO component allowed BizStream's developers and the union to
boost optimization on www.ufcw951.org. Making use of tagging, proper URLs, alt-text,
and keyword and meta tag insertion are fast and effective methods to comply with
best practices and improve the client's organic search rankings.
"Working with Kentico has
been a breeze! After using
a complicated platform
in the past, I found Kentico to
be both user-friendly and easy
to acclimate to. I was able to
begin making updates almost
instantly, and the speed
at which I’m able to edit
content makes a huge
difference in my work day.
We have only just begun using
some of Kentico’s many
exciting features, I’m eager to
see where we will go from
here!"
Ashley Barberi,
Senior Digital Marketing,
Specialist, UFCW 951
Social media integration
Over the last year, UFCW 951 has worked hard
to increase its digital presence. BizStream used
Kentico’s social media tool to integrate social
media with the website. This will help the union
further engage with audiences on Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube – all
of which will lend to promoting the union’s
advantages and improving search engine results.
Key criteria for selecting Kentico CMS

Easy-to-use content management system with intuitive interface for content
administrators
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Affordability
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Responsive design capability
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Ability to quickly update and manage content
and navigation in-house and keep website
maintenance costs to a minimum
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Social media integration
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Search engine optimization module that
complies with SEO best practices
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Improved site performance
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Comprehensive feature set