David Bego - The Devil at My Doorstep: Protecting Employee Rights

The Devil at My
Doorstep

How I Survived a Three-Year War with
Big Labor and Protected My Employees
and Business

David A. Bego

Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern is the drama queen of Big Labor.

Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2008

Our priority should not be to make unionized employers noncompetitive by raising the wages and benefits they offered their employees over the non-union companys wages in the market. Instead, our priority should be to contribute to our employers success by organizing all their competitors.

A Country That Works

We like conversation, but we embrace confrontation.

SEIU Executive Contracts Administrator
Dennis Dingow to EMS President Dave Bego

Copyright 2009, David Bego

ISBN-13: 978-0-9841457-0-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009931822

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system. EMS employees and others names have been changed by the author to protect their privacy.

Beginnings

I T WAS A NASTY, UGLY , 3- YEAR, MILLION-DOLLAR WAR I DID NOT ASK FOR , but had to win. Otherwise, the business I loved would have been infiltrated by a scheming labor union determined to undermine employee privacy rights and destroy my version of the American Dream.

What is this Dream? Some may say it is a matter of freedom that allows every citizen in America the right to pursue a good life through free choice and hard work. Others use the term equal opportunity to describe the Dreamthat all people should have the same chance to compete for any job without prejudice or threat. In this way, talent and skill become the tools of those who may succeed and discover peace and tranquility in their lives through a loving family, a comfortable wage, a nice place to live, and lasting friendships. Such a meaning coincides with the first use of the term by James Tousle in his 1931 book, Epic of AmericaThe American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

Perhaps the Founding Fathers explained the American Dream best through the words, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Such is only possible when no restrictions occur regarding any sort of class system, religious affiliation or the lack thereof, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, or ethnicity. Absent also must be the evils of greed, force, and power, for such things inhibit everyones chance to live the Dream. This is why some sort of spiritual foundation is important because it permits a standard with which to evaluate conduct. This allows moral and ethical benchmarks to guide ones behavior, whether it involves personal choice or business decisions.

During a time of economic strife, many lose their belief that the American Dream is even possible based on several factors including loss of hope and lack of faith. Polls conducted by Business Week and CNN during the past two years or so indicated that from 50 to 66 percent of those polled believed the Dream was not achievable. Based on these perspectives, politicians during the 2008 Presidential election seized on the term, with the-then President-elect Barack Obama mentioning it often during the campaign, and at the Democratic Convention by comparing the phrase to basic promises with each person having the freedom to make of our own lives what we will while treating each other with dignity and respect. Referencing businesses, he said, [They] should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. I couldnt agree more.

Whatever standard is used to define the American Dream, my station in life as the year 2006 rolled around certainly qualified me for having achieved this Dream as one who had played by the rules of the road in the true spirit of entrepreneurship. Starting with no customers, no office, and little capital to support the venture in 1989, I now own a commercial cleaning, facility maintenance and security business (nearly 5,000 employees in 33 states), Executive Management Services (EMS), based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Customers include nearly 50 Fortune 500 companies. Times were good as I enjoyed a loving wife and family including three children, a warm and comfortable home, good friends, and terrific relationships with both our company management team and the hourly-wage employees, 70 percent of whom were full-time. We provided workers with above-scale wages, vacation and holiday pay, and covered 80 percent of their health care costs while combating the hiring of illegal aliens with a strict background check system.

My spiritual compass was provided through my Catholic beliefs as a member of Holy Spirit at Geist Parish and a personal code of conductChrist-like in nature. I was involved in our local community as a volunteer and financial supporter for various charities including Indianapoliss critically acclaimed Childrens Museum as well as the Special Olympics. EMS held an annual company golf tournament to raise funds for the YMCAs Kids under Construction project, St. Marys Child Center, and Autism Advocates of Indiana. A second tournament called The Pete Dye Classic benefited the nationally acclaimed Riley Hospital for Children.

On the employee front, EMS hired mentally challenged people from Goodwill Industries and helped to fight muscular dystrophy resulting in our receiving the Golden Handcuff Award. Along the way, in 1995, Senator Richard Lugar recognized EMS as one of the fastest-growing companies in Indiana, and the City of Indianapolis honored EMS with the Eagle Award for its keen foresight and powerful wings that made it a success story. One year, I was a finalist for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, an honor I sincerely appreciated because being an entrepreneur who started a company with nothing and helped it grow and sustain was indeed a special honor in itself.

Another benefit of owning our own business was the chance to incorporate family into the equation. One by one, those we loved had joined EMS in some capacity. These included my wife Barbara, brother-in-law Ray, sister Nancy, son Mark, daughter Kelly, son-in-law Matt, and even my father Robert. We were truly a family business in any sense of the term and this family extended to our management colleagues and front-line employees.

While we were proud of our achievements, EMS was certainly not going to change the world, but we were doing our part as a quality company with the motto, We dont just clean, we manage. The big shot in our industry was ABM, and we were never going to topple them from power. In fact, we didnt want to do so. Instead, we concentrated on our focused businesses, cleaning services for buildings and plants, distribution of Barrett Supplies and Equipment (high-quality chemicals, equipment, and commodities) for 50-plus years a star in that industry, and security deployment through Delta Security Services. With offices in such states as Missouri, Georgia, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, we were proud of our customer service and spotless record as a provider of an important service to building and plant owners around the country.

Perhaps my proudest achievement aside from working with top management people who had been with the company an average of 15 years was the special relationship with EMS employees. Many of them did not have the chance to obtain university, college, junior college, technical, or even high school education, but they were good workers who believed in quality and hard work. How pleased I was that EMS could provide them with good-paying jobs and benefits fostering loyaltysince many of the employees had been with me for several years. It was never an us or them situation with me; it was us and them, because we could not be successful without their help in providing the top customer service we rendered on a daily basis. EMS became known as a good place to work where employees received a square deal.