The Devil at My Doorstep

by David Bego

  Nowhere was SEIU’s quest for power more evident than during the 2008 elections. In a series of articles by The New York Times beginning in October 2007, the sense of strategy by Stern and SEIU became quite clear. Under the banner, “A Union With Clout Stakes Its Claims on Politics,” reporter Steven Greenhouse began with the statement, “For an idea of the influence that the Service Employees International Union carries in Democratic Politics, consider that former President Bill Clinton phoned a 17-member committee of the union’s New Hampshire operation last Monday to extol his wife’s record on issues that are important to the labor movement.” Greenhouse then noted that Clinton’s “7-minute pitch” was just one indication as to how all of the Presidential candidates were “courting” the nearly two-million member union “whose financial and organizational clout are much-sought prizes, not just in the race for the White House but in Congressional and state contests.”

  Though Greenhouse suggested Stern had “a reputation as divisive” because he “orchestrated a split with the AFL–CIO in 2005 that some analysts say has set back labor’s efforts to keep a strong voice in politics,” the reporter believed Stern’s “focus on politics” caused politicians to “court the SEIU endorsement aggressively.” An indication of Stern’s power, Greenhouse wrote, was the Democratic candidates whipping out plans for universal health care immediately after the union leader swore the union would never endorse a candidate who didn’t have one, and his demand that the candidates spend a “day in the shoes of a worker.” Like clockwork, Greenhouse reported, Senator John Edwards, Obama, and Hillary Clinton did so—no wonder since the SEIU had raised 40 million dollars for its political action committee in 2006, and had earmarked another 30 million for use in 2008. The money, the article suggested, would not only be used in the Presidential election but in state and local elections as well. “They are seen as huge players,” Edwards’ campaign manager stated, and no wonder, as Stern has said more than 100,000 volunteers could hit the streets in support of candidates of choice. With this in mind, in a veiled, or perhaps not so veiled threat, Greenhouse quoted Stern as saying, “We appreciate accountability. We just can’t elect people and walk away and think it’s going to work out.”

  Reporter Greenhouse continued his look at the influence of SEIU in a November 8, 2008 Times article under the banner, “After Push for Obama, Unions Seek New Rules.” Priority one, the reporter concluded: “the labor unions have begun a new campaign: to get the President and Congress to pass legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize.” Noting business leaders’ opposition to the strategy was Randel Johnson, Vice President for labor at the United States Chamber of Commerce. Johnson declared, “This will be Armageddon.”

  Greenhouse then reported, “Labor’s No. 1 Priority” was “a piece of legislation called the Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA), also known as the card-check bill. The stakes were high, Greenhouse reported that if the legislation passed, estimates were that unions could add as many as five million workers to their dues-paying list during the next five years. This would certainly increase Stern’s political clout—leading straight to the oval office door.

  Two sides of the fence obviously existed as to the merits of the legislation. John Sweeney, the AFL–CIO President said, “We really need a fundamental change to counterbalance corporate power and reverse the decline of the middle class,” while the Chamber’s Thomas Donahue believed passing the bill would be tantamount to “payback” that labor unions demanded for their backing of Obama and other candidates.

  While opinions varied as to the merit of the legislation, all appeared to agree that if the bill were passed, President Obama would sign it because he was one of many co-sponsors of the bill when he was a senator. In addition, the unions had tirelessly campaigned for him while spending nearly 450 million dollars during the election. Sweeney boasted, “In the last four days of the campaign, 250,000 volunteers from AFL–CIO unions made 5.5 million phone calls and visited 3.9 million households.” He estimated his volunteers “reached out to more than 13 million voters in 24 states.”

  Electing senators who would vote for the EFCA was important and despite 51 votes in favor, supporters could not overcome a filibuster effort by opponents where 60 votes were required. Gains by Democrats in the November election provided hope for those backing the bill especially since a Republican turned Democrat, Senator Arlen Spector, had also co-sponsored it. No matter, the man behind the legislation, SEIU President, Stern was confident that he had enough support in Congress and that the President would sign the bill. He believed it was only a matter of time before the Employee Free Choice Act would become law. Stern was one giant step from his dream of adding perhaps as many as four or five million members to SEIU’s rolls. His “persuasion of power” was working its magic.

  Experience That

  Counted

  WHILE STERN WAS EARNING HIS OATS AS A LABOR UNION BOSS WITH grandiose plans, my Central Soya employment continued as the year 1982 ended. We welcomed son Mark to the family in September, 1982 despite my having been stopped for speeding two blocks from the hospital after having raced half way across Kansas trying to be there with Barb for his birth. The traffic officer felt sorry for me and just gave me a stiff warning while congratulating me on the impending arrival.

  New family addition—we move! This seemed to be a pattern in our lives when Central Soya decided I needed to move a few states east to their failing Indianapolis plant. Here the challenge would be a face-to-face meeting with the Teamsters Union, one represented by guys who make Stern seem tame. This plant was a multi-purpose facility—soybean processing, edible oil, a feed mill, and a grain elevator. But the plant was in miserable shape, outdated, and in an area where no farmer in his right mind would travel to do business. Before tackling any renovations, I suggested they burn the facility down and start over as the equipment was old and the plant, filthy. The union fought me some as we tried to clean the place up, but after a rocky start, things improved a bit and we began to band together to make the facility a better place to work. Again, mutual respect was the call of the day. The employees knew what I expected—there was no tolerance for those who didn’t work hard and do their jobs. In turn, I listened to union complaints with a ready eye to change things if need be. Few grievances were Filed and, as time passed, peace ruled the roost.

  After two years attempting to turn this plant around despite my feelings that it might best be closed, son Brian came along in May 1984. And yep, true to the new tradition, a few months later, Central Soya asked me to move again, this time to Kansas City, Missouri where morale at a new pet food facility was low and production, worse. Turn-around was the idea, but for the first time, hesitation was on my mind when Barb and I sat down and talked about pulling up stakes again, especially with three small children in tow. Kelly was in preschool and was looking at kindergarten the next year plus we were now in Indiana close to our families. After we held a meeting with the executives at Central Soya, and reasons for my request not to be transferred were heard, the proverbial “cold shoulder” came my way. By this time, the company had been purchased by Disney, yes, that’s right, the mouse people, and I found their executives to be pretty matter-of-fact and less than interested in my reasons for being unwilling to leave for Missouri. The topper was when one of them said, “You’re young and you’re doing what you’re going to be doing for the next 10 years, helping us turn plants around.” I must have winced a bit at that statement, not wanting to be a vagabond my whole life while moving my kids from city to city and missing watching them grow up while working 80 hours a week. After I made it clear I wanted to stay in either Indianapolis or Fort Wayne, one of the executives said, “Well, you know, that’s not really an option at this point. We want you in Kansas City. We’ve got problems there, we want them fixed.”

  Hearing this, I gathered my courage together, stood tall, and promptly resigned. On the drive home, I tried to think of a cool way to break this to Barb, but there was no
cool way, so I just told her. She was a bit frantic (not sure if she threw a frying pan at me—don’t believe she did), but I told her we were going to be all right and not to worry as we would find some way to feed the mouths of our three little ones. Perhaps it was my faith in God, or my faith in myself, or some faith about something, but there was no doubt in my mind that good things were going to occur. To my way of thinking, the Good Lord does watch what we are doing—what choices we are making. And when we act out of good conscience and with good intentions based on strong, inner beliefs, the old saying, “when one door closes, another one opens,” does apply.

  Interestingly enough, the next day a door did open when someone I had worked with at Central Soya now working at Cargill called. He had heard about my resignation and wanted to talk. I was in Minneapolis at their home office the next day, and hired as a consultant shortly thereafter. Short travels took me to their plants in Alabama and Arkansas and down to Jacksonville. Jobs at each of those locations were offered, but I just stuck to my decision to pass on any opportunity unless I could stay near my growing family back home in Indiana.

  Consulting fees paid the bills and more, but when Superior Building Services, a commercial cleaning company, contacted me, I sat for an interview. There wasn’t a comfortable feeling with the owner, so the job was turned down. Barb was getting a little nervous at that point and said I really needed to consider what she called “a real job.” When the cleaning company owner sweetened the deal a bit with a second offer, and I became a bit more comfortable with him as a person, I decided to take a crack at working in a different industry as general manager for the state of Indiana. Learning a whole new area of business presented its problems, but over the next three-and-a-half years, I learned a great deal. Lessons learned from this kindly Jewish man included not only what the cleaning business was all about, but what being a good businessman was all about. We squabbled from time to time over management decisions because the way of doing things used at both Cargill and Central Soya had worked well for me. One example occurred on a Sunday afternoon when the owner of the company called and told me he wanted me in Cincinnati first thing on Monday morning as he had fired the general manager and that office would now be part of my territory. I inquired as to the reason for the Firing and he said an account problem had popped up caused, the area manager had told him, by the general manager. When I asked whether the owner had talked to the general manager to get his side of the story and learned that he had not, I asked him to let me investigate a bit while putting the Firing on hold. It turned out that a communications breakdown between the area manager, the general manager, and the customer was the culprit in addition to the need to charge more for our services. By working this problem out through discussion instead of confrontation, the general manager kept his job.

  Another bone of contention was my boss’s tendency to be a bit heavy-handed. This was not my way. Being strong and decisive was one thing, but going overboard with veiled threats or even unveiled threats never made much sense to me.

  After three-and-a-half years working for Superior, each day the idea to try the cleaning business on my own crept more and more into my mind. Barb and I had saved some money, about 30,000 dollars as I recall, not much to some, but a great deal to others. For us, it was just enough to say, “Hey, why not take what you have learned from all the business experiences and start your own company?” The result was the birth, in May 1989, of Executive Management Services, a name that appeared appropriate because I wanted our new venture to be recognized as a multi-service company that managed building services at a professional level. Millions of people do this every year without fanfare or public notice. We were about to join them in a great risk–reward adventure.

  As I scoped out the business plan and philosophy that would mark my entry into the commercial cleaning business, the family was doing well. Kelly was 8 years old and Mark, 6, with Brian in pre-school. Kelly and Mark were attending Holy Spirit Catholic School and I loved coaching their basketball and baseball teams and attending school events. Both Barb’s and my parents were still living and visited us for family occasions and provided moral support. My sister Nancy was a bright, young gal who had become a registered nurse and gotten married. Barb’s five brothers and sisters were involved in all different walks of life. When we gathered at Christmas, it was truly a merry time. How blessed we were!

  With our savings as an investment for the future, we began our quest to own our own business. Despite having the three young ones, Barb went back to work and her law firm paycheck paid the bills and put groceries on the table. Meanwhile, my job was to locate new accounts wherever they could be found. There was a non-compete clause in my Superior resignation agreement and I honored that to the letter. Within a few months, I had picked up some small accounts. Never afraid to get my hands dirty, I cleaned my insurance company’s offices, but my first real account involved a manufacturing facility that I visited, along with a banking company, at least one night a week on my way home from the office hoping to secure their business. One evening, the receptionist at the manufacturing plant front desk (I think she felt sorry for me), startled me by saying, “I’ve got you an appointment with the guy that oversees the contracts for the cleaning here.” Next day I was sitting with the fine fellow and gave him my best pitch—what I had in mind for the company and how I could best service his facility. And he said, “Yes,” causing me to nearly hug him before deciding that might not be the best idea. That evening, Barb and I celebrated, as the kids played nearby, with the knowledge that we were gaining customers who believed in my business ideals as much as I did. But money was tight and the office we found was located in a rough part of town. Certainly our first secretary learned this firsthand; while she was in the bathroom, some desperate fellow snuck through the front door and stole her coat. Later, she and I watched two gents fight to the finish outside the building. All this made me seek another home for our fledgling company.

  Now that we had our first real customer, it was time to do the work. The first night on the job was memorable after I paused to look at myself in the mirror while cleaning one of the plant restrooms. Only three of the five people hired to help me had showed up and suddenly, seeing my reflection in the mirror, the thought came to me that some might say I was out of my mind having left a job where the money was good and security, a staple. But that night was special as I knew, with perseverance and hard work, the company could succeed. A vision was born and if we kept moving forward and instilled quality in all we did, the customers would come as time passed. And they did. Within a couple of months, I picked up a bank that had about 15 branches in the area. Now we were really cooking and my days became so hectic I never dared look at my watch. I just kept going and going—trying to find new clients by day, having dinner and helping Barb with payroll and the kids, and then leaving to oversee the cleaning accounts. Basketball was still in my life as a member of a pick-up team and coaching the kids’ teams, something I did not want to give up.

  In August, EMS won a huge account—the three Pyramids buildings on Indianapolis’s north side. The size, approximately 300,000 square feet of office space, was amazing. Word was getting around, and by the end of the first year we had secured business totaling nearly a million dollars. There was no question I was spread too thin, but several people had come to work with us and soon I could delegate some of the workload so I didn’t lose my sanity and my family at the same time. Barb was the rock in our life, encouraging, warning, advising, helping, encouraging again—all you could ever want in a loving wife and companion. By July 1990, she began to work with the company and a few months later, her older brother joined us as a manager to help run the operations at night while I was selling and running the business. The only downer was our learning that my mom and dad had drifted apart and were getting a divorce. And then mom had a massive stroke and passed away unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day, 1990. A weakness she had, smoking, caught up with her and took away her life. After l
earning of her death, I cried, and cried, and cried some more. Hopefully she was proud of me—I owned my own business and achieved some measure of success as she hoped I would.

  Such success with a small business brought with it a demanding decision for a start up like ours—the question of expansion beyond the original business plan. After much consideration we decided to gamble again, to risk again, because while my kids were continuing along in grade school enjoying learning, friendships and sports, and Barb was the best mom on the face of the earth, EMS was experiencing growing pains. This became clear when we picked up the account, National Bank of Detroit, with operations in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. When the executives, pleased with our work after about a year, told us they were requesting bids for all of their Midwest operations, we stood up and paid attention. But I blinked when they told us the bid was an all-or-none package. Because we just wanted their Indiana business, we decided to bid on the two facilities in our home state and that was all. Then, as fast as a duck trying to evade the experienced hunter, we lost the Indiana business, a sizeable account at the time. During discussions with Barb and our small staff about what had occurred, we decided this would never happen again. If the chance arose, we would take the risk and bid for any good business we could find and start spreading our wings beyond the comfort zone. This especially made sense because, to enhance our cleaning business, we had purchased Barrett Supplies. It sold chemicals and consumable supplies like paper towels, toilet paper, hand soap, and cleaning equipment including vacuums, buffers and other supplies and equipment for the cleaning and building industry. Soon the “new” EMS had expanded to Cincinnati and Fort Wayne, and I was looking at acquiring cleaning companies in other states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Arizona, and New Mexico. Later we would add Superior Building Services and others to our fold, a sure sign things had come full circle from the days when I worked for them.