Every hour lands at the rate the agreement says
Appello stores your collective agreements, trade levels and wage regions, then works out the rate on every timesheet row as the hours come in. The foreman records who worked, on which job and for how long. Appello prices each row for the worker's trade level and the job's wage region, and bulk entry splits overtime by the agreement's rules. Payroll gets a clean export, not a spreadsheet to re-key. It is live today for insulation, mechanical and sheet-metal contractors in Canada and the US.
Union payroll software: how it works
Set the agreement up once
Enter each collective agreement with its rate labels — regular, overtime, double time — and the date each version starts. When a new agreement starts, add a new version with the new rates; last year's hours keep last year's rates.
Give every worker a trade level
Apprentice years, journeyperson, foreman. The trade level and the agreement together set the rate, so moving an apprentice up a year is one change on the worker's record, with the date it starts — not forty spreadsheet edits.
Let the week decide overtime
Set daily and weekly overtime thresholds per agreement and wage region. In bulk timesheet entry the hours split as they are typed, so a tenth hour on Thursday lands as overtime without anyone doing the maths.
Pay the region the work was in
Wage regions attach to the job. A crew that crosses into another region is paid that region's rate for those hours, and each worker's union hall stays on their record.
A normal week with it
- Monday to Friday
Foremen enter crew hours by job from the phone, or the office enters the whole crew in bulk. Rates resolve as each row is saved.
- Friday afternoon
The office reviews the week. Overtime, travel and board are already on the rows — the review is about hours, not rates.
- Monday morning
Approve and lock the week, then export to Sage 50 or CSV, or send it to QuickBooks Online. Nothing changes after the lock.
What union payroll costs without it
Most shops run union rates from memory and a spreadsheet. It works until the agreement changes or the person who knows the rules is on holiday.
- A payroll clerk re-keys every timesheet and looks up every rate by hand, every week.
- A missed premium becomes a grievance, and the steward calls before payroll does.
- Rate changes on the new agreement date get applied late, then back-paid.
- Job costs use an average rate, so the margin on union-heavy jobs is a guess.
Union payroll software: common questions
Does Appello run payroll or cut the cheques?
No. Appello does not run payroll or cut cheques. It works out the hours and the union rates, then exports them to the payroll system you already use — Sage 50, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, or a CSV your payroll provider imports. You keep your payroll provider.
Can one worker be paid at more than one classification?
Yes. In Appello, a worker has a usual trade level, but hours on a job can be logged at a different one — a journeyperson running the crew as foreman for a day, for example. Each timesheet row is priced at the classification it was logged at, using the job's wage region.
What happens when a new collective agreement starts?
In Appello, you add the new collective agreement as a new version with its rates and start date. Hours before that date keep the old rates, hours after it get the new ones, and approved weeks don't change. Last year's hours keep last year's rates.
Union payroll, on your own jobs
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