The Devil at My Doorstep

by David Bego

Learning about Stern was illuminating, especially since the realization hit me that he had never worked for any companies for a significant period of time, and for certain, never had owned a business of any kind. This caused me to question how he could relate at all to blue-collar workers like those he sought to organize as he had never stood in their shoes day after day, month after month, and year after year while they earned a living to support their families. And there was no doubt of his inability to relate to business owners like me who put their money at risk, fought hard to start a business, fought harder to make it grow, and even harder still to sustain that business by making payroll every week in a marketplace fluctuating on a daily basis. Stern thus had no practical, firsthand experience in the real world with employer–employee relationships as he had never been in the trenches dealing with such matters. Through my career dealings with numerous personality types, Stern appeared to me to be the prototypical individual who could not make it in the private sector through his own talents of persuasion, but learned how confrontation and intimidation via the union could make him successful and allow him to achieve his goals by forcing his will on others or in his own words “persuasion of power.” But none of this apparently made any difference to Stern: he believed EMS had to be unionized and that was that. Armed with this combative mindset, he and SEIU were ready to engage me in a battle that would test our strength like Roman gladiators fighting to save being thrown to the lions.

  Employees: The

  Greatest Asset

  LABOR UNION INNOVATOR SAMUEL GOMPERS ONCE SAID, “THE ENEMY of the worker is an unprofitable employer.” I couldn’t agree more, and the key part of becoming profitable is how the employer treats employees. Without them, especially those on the front lines doing the unglamorous work, companies like EMS could fail and jobs would be lost.

  If Stern and his SEIU organizers had done their homework, had taken the time to visit our corporate offices, the buildings and plants we serviced, and spoken to any number of our thousands of employees, blue- and white-collar, here is what they would have discovered—a vibrant, exciting, well-managed company with a strong focus on rigid employee hiring methods, better-than-industry average wages and health care benefits, clean working environments, and a willingness to go the extra mile to protect employees from any harm whether it was harassment, threat, or simply the right to exercise freedom at the ballot box if and when unionization became an issue.

  Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Because we had started with nothing, not one customer in 1989, and now had thousands in 30-some states with an employee roll of close to 5,000, then we must have done something right. Even the briefest research would have told Stern and his union buddies “Hey, EMS seems to be running a good ship, one where they treat the employees with the kind of respect we admire. Maybe we should use EMS as a model company for how other companies should treat their employees. Otherwise, let’s leave them alone because the employees are doing just fine.” But this mindset was not to be, and instead Stern and the union rushed in with a “do it our way or else” mentality in tandem with their threat that the “persuasion of power” shall prevail. When someone does this, as the union did with EMS, then the war was on, one I did not ask for and did not want, but could not avoid.

  In fact, if Dennis Dingow, the SEIU’s front-line contract manager, or Stern would have asked, I could have given them inspiring employee stories to fill a notebook. We were especially proud of how many employees had started with us and then built a career as they moved to positions with more responsibility. And that notebook could also be filled with instances where we protected the employees from those who treated them as second-class citizens, something we never tolerated. Pick on one of my employees, and you pick on me, and every other EMS employee, and together, we will come after you. I have long believed that good management not only means providing good jobs in a safe environment for fair pay, but also ensuring my employees’ rights are effectively protected.

  Inspiring employee stories at EMS abound. One particular gentleman named Mark, an impressive, good-looking guy with a quick mind, owned a little boat repair business, but he worked for us part-time cleaning bank branches. He liked what he was doing and wanted to do more. Soon he had worked his way up to being a supervisor before eventually attaining a salaried site manager’s position at one of our larger buildings. From there, he leaped into the sales area, and after working there for a while, decided to leave for Florida, his home state, where he worked for a contract cleaning company. When the fellow he was working for decided to retire, our former employee called us and asked if we wanted to buy the company. We did, and Mark became our Tampa general manager. He worked for us a while, but when we had to replace him, I wondered who might be qualified to take over. While visiting the office, Mark’s secretary, a spirited woman with a bit of managerial experience, had impressed me. I called her in the office and asked her if she thought she could be a general manager. Based on her positive answer and willingness to work hard, we hired her on the spot.

  Another employee, a Hispanic man named George, started working for us as an hourly cleaner in an Indianapolis church. He was promoted to supervisor there and then to site manager for a large private school we cleaned. But he wanted more, and soon we moved him to Ft. Myers, Florida to run a small branch in that area where he flourished.

  On the management side of the business, a general manager at Maple Creek Country Club decided he wanted a change of scenery. We hired him to join us at EMS as an operations manager. He worked his way through our company and became one of our Executive Vice Presidents. In another part of the country, when we made an acquisition a few years ago in the Wichita, Kansas area, we discovered management needed to be strengthened. But they had a controller I liked; a good people person, and we quickly moved him into the branch manager’s position while the woman who was the branch manager switched to sales. We try very hard to match people to their skills and abilities, something we try to accomplish with every employee position whether it is supervising a building operation or cleaning the offices. My philosophy is that it is much like a sports team. In baseball you wouldn’t put a person who is best suited as a catcher in center field or vice versa. Why then wouldn’t you use the same philosophy in business? Seems like common sense to me, but it alludes many people!

  This was especially true for a fellow who came to work at EMS almost 20 years ago. He had his heart set on becoming an operations manager, but I told him sales might be a better position for him. He was leery of my recommendation, but he took the job and became my first salesman. He was in outside sales for a year before becoming a sales manager with a couple of people working for him. Now he’s our Vice President of sales managing a fairly large sales force. There are many more stories like this since we have seen many people start with us in one position and move to others or begin to work for EMS as part-time help, eventually moving into managerial or supervisory positions. These people have been with EMS a long time, and they are the heart and soul of the company.

  Plain and simple, we don’t really tout the business at EMS; we tout the employees. Any customer letters of commendation received are reprinted in the company newsletters. I also send a signed personal letter and a Wal-Mart gift certificate to every employee who is praised. Employees of the month and the year are honored, with the latter receiving a plaque, other gifts, and a nice bonus. The runners-up receive a gift certificate. All this is part of our appreciation for a job well done.

  Another step we have taken to help employees make it through tough economic times is to implement a nationwide purchasing program so that our employees at all levels receive discounts at different retail stores. These include Costco, Target, Lenovo, Office Depot, Avis, Seaworld, and Disneyworld. Soon employees may shop online.

  Protecting employees, as Stern and SEIU would have learned if they had just checked out our record, is standard operating procedure at EMS and our doing so has paid off through employee advancement and loyalty. As w
e’ve grown through the years, there have been instances where I’ve canceled business because our employees were being mistreated. One instance occurred at a large Indianapolis office building with a property manager who was difficult at best. He continued to howl over his belief that our employees were leaving doors unlocked at a facility where his company employees were working around the clock. The woman in charge of our operation told him our employees left at midnight and thus had no control over what occurred in the building after they left. But he called me and complained while demanding I see him immediately along with our EMS manager. When we arrived in his office, he began his tirade by swearing and using the F word, and without hesitation, I told him “Stop using that kind of language when a lady is in the room.” He looked at me like I was crazy and started ranting again, using language even more foul than before. I stopped him in mid-sentence, stood up, and said “This meeting is over. I’m not going to have my manager subjected to this type of behavior.” We left and when I arrived back at our corporate offices, I dictated a termination letter and faxed it down to the property manager. The result: we had just lost a several-hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year account. No matter, to me, the larger issue, the only issue, was taking care of employees so they were never subjected to abuse.

  From time to time, I’ve canceled several accounts with customers like that where there were instances of abuse or hostility toward our employees, our management team, or even clerical people they talk to in the office. I’ve coached our sales representatives and business development managers to understand that if they call on someone and they seem difficult to deal with, pass on the account because if they are difficult with sales people, they will be difficult with our cleaning staff. We don’t want to be involved in relationships that compromise EMS core values.

  What do we look for in employees? Since we built EMS from the ground up based on five characteristics precious to me—hard work, honesty, integrity, skill level, and perseverance—these are essential qualities we strive to find in anyone interested in working with us. I want people who believe in themselves, are willing to work hard hour after hour and day after day, and are not going to give up when times get tough because there will be obstacles along the way like the ones we faced when EMS was just an infant. Bottom line—I just want good people.

  Because nearly 90 percent of start-ups like ours fail, it is important to recognize a common thread among those that make it—the competitive nature of the core management group. I believe my athletic competitiveness helped me with that area because I hate to lose whether it is at tiddlywinks, on the golf course, or when we are bidding for a contract. Failure is acceptable, but only if you have given it your all, and then about 25 percent more than that. And if I am willing to give this type of effort, I want employees who will do the same whether they are management or hourly-wage earners.

  As a result of EMS’s success, several offers to purchase the company have been tendered through the years, but my love affair with this family-owned business operated with employee fairness prevents me from selling. Because of our growth, I don’t know as many of the employees today as I used to years ago. But I still visit with as many as possible and introduce myself and tell them how pleased we are they work for us. Sometimes I even wish I were on the Firing line again cleaning offices. One great memory that makes me grin when I think about it occurred with some of our women employees, many of whom were quite short. I knew they had trouble dusting in high places and when they saw me coming, they knew I was going to check to see if they had cleaned there. After a time, when I visited, the women would escort me to the high places and show me that somehow they had figured out a way to get the job done. It was almost like a game and we had fun with it. Their willingness to go the extra mile to make EMS look good caused me to make certain they were treated well.

  When we buy a company, the first thing we do is to evaluate the management personnel to make certain they are in tune with our core business values and culture. If they are not, we replace them with people who are, ones who will watch out for our hourly employees. Certainly, we give people a chance to fit into our culture, and people do change their habits for the good, but we want to make certain that those who work for us will make good decisions regarding workers who decide that EMS is the right place for them.

  Perhaps if Stern or Dennis Dingow had requested to visit EMS headquarters, or spoken with me at length, they would have discovered that yes, my spiritual foundation as a Catholic does impact my management style. But religion is a private matter and we don’t blow our beliefs into other people’s faces despite our attending weekly mass where we visit with the priest we know well. Without a spiritual foundation to guide them, I am not certain how people evaluate their conduct, and being Catholic has permitted me to do so, to ask whether this decision or that is in line with my beliefs. Prayer is also special to me as I ask for guidance to do what is best for my family and business because, let’s face it, we are normally right about half the time, if that. If we were perfect, the world would be a better place, but this is not possible with all the temptations lurking at every turn. This is especially true concerning the greed and power that has gripped so many in the business world, people like Bernard Madoff and others who had blatantly stolen from business associates, friends, and even family.

  During a chat Stern and I might have had, one thing would have become crystal clear—I love EMS. And I become quite emotional talking about it because I am quite an emotional person. At dinners and special events, sometimes these emotions get the best of me and I have to stop for a minute to gather my composure. As the year 2006 began, I was just so damn proud of what we had accomplished with employees living all around the country. When the first contact from Dennis Dingow occurred, I promised myself that no one was going to push us around, and no one was for certain going to abuse our employees because if this occurred, I could never look at myself in the mirror again.

  Employee Free

  Choice Act (EFCA) /

  Union Power Grab

  THE TORNADO I WAS ABOUT TO TACKLE BY RESISTING THE SEIU’s attempts to unionize EMS was about one thing, and one thing only—Stern’s desire to unionize every company in my industry. But at the epicenter of his grandiose plan was a piece of legislation called, as brief y mentioned before, The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a misnomer if there ever was one. Give those folks at SEIU credit; the wording is brilliant, and the plan to gain passage of the legislation even more innovative. These are bright people with an agenda they truly believe is worthy. I simply disagree.

  What is the EFCA? Simply put, it is a proposed law that would change existing federal law concerning the rights of workers to unionize. Instead of unions like the SEIU arriving at the doorstep of companies like mine with a petition for a secret-ballot election to be held under the auspices of the NLRB, or demand I sign a “Neutrality Agreement,” (in essence, submit to card check), the legislation would guarantee EMS would be subject to card check recognition. If EFCA passes, employees seeking union representation would indicate their willingness to do so by signing union cards authorizing such representation. In addition, there would also be severe penalties assessed against employers that violate employee rights concerning union establishment, and new mediation and binding arbitration procedures for any first-contract disputes.

  The legislation was initially Filed in the 108th Congress and during the 110th Congress under H. R. 800. In March 2007, the House of Representatives passed the bill, originally introduced by Representative George Miller (D-California). The vote was 241–185 mostly along political party lines. The House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said the bill was about “establishing fairness in the workplace,” while his counterpart, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) believed the true purpose was to “take care of union bosses.” How many representatives actually read the bill is unknown, but if the 2008 Stimulus Bill is any indication, one has to wonder who among the representatives really understood its c
ontent and potential impact as any bill with wording including “Free Choice” sounds good at first glance.

  At the foundation of the bill is the card check provision. While current law permits those seeking union representation to demand an election from employers utilizing a “secret ballot” procedure akin to any local, state, or national election, in reality a “private ballot” election, the new law forces the “card check” procedure noted above. Under this procedure, a union would be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees as soon as it submits signatures from a bare majority of workers. While authorization cards are used today to show a minimum level of support for the government to conduct an election, an election provides important safeguards that allow workers to cast their vote in private. Card check eliminates these safeguards. The employee’s decision to sign or not sign an authorization card will be known to union organizers, co-workers, and the employer. Simply put, if the law passes, co-workers would know how each person voted, wiping privacy out of the equation. Additionally, all size businesses would be targeted from mom and pops to major corporations. Theoretically, a business owner could leave on Friday and return to work on Monday and be presented with notification that they would be required to recognize a particular union, and they would never would have a clue what was transpiring.

  Regarding “first contract mediation and arbitration procedures,” the proposed legislation permits either the union or management engaged in first contract negotiation to forward any dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) after 90 days have passed. If mediation does not bring the parties to agreement after a 30-day time period, binding arbitration is the next step with any decision final without legal recourse for two years with extensions possible if the parties agreed. Interest arbitration would set every term and condition of the union contract. This would not be limited to wages and benefits, but work rules, contracting, management rights, and every other provision that typically is included in a union contract. There is no requirement that the arbitrator’s decision be consistent with the employer’s business model and the employees have no voice and no vote as to whether the arbitrator’s contract is in their best interest.