Making Unions Your Business Partners

K: Colleen, I think what drives your success with the triple bottom line is your unwavering desire to treat your People as your business partners in every way.

C: There is no doubt about that in my mind. Without our People, we would never be able to create Raving Fan Customers or be sound financially.

K: Talking about treating your People like business partners, Colleen, a lot of folks don’t realize that more than 80 percent of the People in your workforce are in unions. Most companies with unions wouldn’t look at those People as their business partners but rather as adversaries.

C: That’s the genius of Herb. When the first group of Employees had an opportunity to vote on whether they wanted to be part of a union, Herb told them, “I think unions are great, as long as we still sit on the same side of the table. I don’t want, and I don’t think you would want, a union whose leaders want to sit on the other side of the table.” So our union folks participate in everything we do; their Leaders are involved in all major decision making. As business partners, we are on the same side of the table.

K: That’s fabulous, Colleen. It’s sad that there’s so much win/lose in union and management relations in this country, not only in business but also in education.