Chapter 9

We rented a car and drove straight to the factory. I was expecting to talk about some minor issues and show Darcy the factory before we flew home, but soon found out that was not to be. The head of the union was coming in to twist our arms. I got on the phone and immediately called John. He said that he'd book the first flight out in the morning, which should get them there before lunch. I said, "Can you bring my assistant? She tends to keep me calm and in perspective during this type of crap."

"If I can get my mother-in-law to come over, she'll be with me," He said.

"John, please make sure that you both fly first class on my dime. I want you both as fresh as possible for the meeting."

"Yes, Sir," he said.

I went back in, got the production numbers from Roy, and then got the reports for the last few months since they completed the retooling project. I took the forecasted demand that Craig had sent and the feasibility study on opening a second plant in Tennessee, near the headquarters.

I stopped for a quick burger for Darcy and me and went back to the hotel to study the documents. Darcy read a book to keep busy and to keep from making too much noise. She was asleep when I stood up at 1:30 to stretch my back. I washed my face, brushed my teeth before stripping naked and climbing in bed with her to get some rest. When I woke five hours later, she was still asleep. I worked out and then went for a run. She was up when I returned, so we took a shower together. When we finished washing, we were just hugging under the spray. I felt her move funny and looked down to see her crying.

I got out of the shower and held her as I dried her off. She finally stopped crying, so I asked her what was wrong.

Darcy said, "You told me that you'd be married to your job and we couldn't be together. I believed you, but after spending the last couple of days with you, I thought that there might be a chance that we could make this work. Then what happens? One sentence comes out of Roy's mouth, the next thing you know people are flying all over the country and I'm stuck in a corner while you try to save the world. We're right back to where we were before you picked me up, and I see that nothing has changed. You're still at that point in your life where the job is still the most important thing. You live an exciting life, but you don't slow down."

"I'm sorry, baby. If I was going to stop and make time for anyone, it would be you, but I'm neck deep in this and I don't have time to stop now. There are a lot of people depending on me."

"I know, and I'm rooting for you. I'm just feeling sorry for myself."

I gave her a kiss. I asked, "Do you want to come with me today or hang out here?"

"This is better than a soap opera if you don't mind me watching."

"I'm happy that you have some interest in my work and want to sit in on the discussions today."

We stopped for breakfast, because I knew I was going to need plenty of energy this day. When we entered the office, Darcy walked around the plant while I organized my thoughts and notes.

John and Beth came in around one and because they had lunch on the plane, they weren't hungry. I laid out my plan and John said that he liked it, so we went in at 2 o'clock to meet the union reps.

We had Roy, John, Beth, Darcy and me on our side and Frank and Tom from the union on the other side. We all shook hands and I made sure that everyone was comfortable. I also made sure that there was a whiteboard in the room before we started. I said, "Good afternoon. With me today are Roy, President and CEO of Superior Trucks, John, my attorney, Beth, my assistant and Darcy another assistant."

Tom said, "I'm Tom and I represent the union. Frank is our legal counsel."

"It's great to meet you both. We're currently under a contract, so I'm not sure what the agenda or the purpose of this meeting is. I'll turn the floor over to you".

"Under the contract, we have the defined ability to renegotiate the contract if anyone buys the company. Since you recently purchased the company, we'd like to talk about the future direction of the company."

I asked, "Are we just talking, or are we negotiating a new contract? I can't do both. If you're opting out of the old contract then we can talk about a new one, but we won't make an addendum to the existing contract. I read the current contract before we came in. I was not happy with all the points, but I accepted them. If you want to make changes we can start from a clean slate."

"Then I guess we're starting from a clean slate," Tom said.

I handed him a document. "This is a release of the contract document that states that the old contract is void as of today, and that your men will continue to work under the provisions of the old contract for the next thirty days, or until we negotiate and sign a new contract. That will give us time to get everything squared away, and in the meantime, keep your men working and collecting a check."

Frank read over the document, and Tom signed it. I had Roy sign, since he was the CEO. Darcy made copies for everyone.

I asked Darcy to go over to the board and asked Tom, "What changes did you want to make and how important are they?"

"They're all important. We have brought on new employees or members and our older members would like to have the overtime reinstated. We also have had complaints that the workers need more vacation time. Since we're working on a new contract, we also would like a 5% raise across the board."

Darcy had written the requests down on the board and Beth was taking notes on a pad.

I said, "Tom, what're your guys willing to give up? This is like a scale. If we add to one side then we need to add to the other."

"What did you have in mind, Britt?"

"First, you mentioned guaranteed overtime. This is off the table, because we'd be better hiring new workers, so that your workers don't find themselves overwork, so they'd need more vacation time. Recently, we experienced a severe reduction in the requests for new trucks, because we couldn't extend the fine quality provided by the first shift of this plant to the second and possibly the third shifts. We already discussed that the workers weren't skilled or trained well enough to supply the goods. The result of all of this is reduced orders and reduced profits for the company and that all falls back on the lack of quality labor. I'm OK with giving your workers the raise. However, what can we expect your workers to provide us in return? Do you want your guys to pay for more of their own pension or health care; will you guarantee higher quality or improved production numbers?"

"Britt, my guys build those trucks. We'll walk off the job and leave you with a dead factory if you don't want to work with us."

"I'm working with you. I said we'd give more vacation time and higher wages. What've you offered besides not going on strike? If this is just an exercise in extortion, then we're both wasting our time."

"Let's be realistic. You need these men."

"I'm being realistic. I need men. I don't need these men. There are men in Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma and other states that would like to work for the pay that these men are making. It will cost us to move the plant, and we will lose productivity, but other states will offer us tax incentives. In Texas and Tennessee, our workers will save money by not having to pay state income tax, and our shipping cost of the final product will go down because we're more centrally located."

"We will picket wherever you go."

"I understand that. That's why we're sitting at the table. My biggest concern is getting quality trucks at a consistent and acceptable level of productivity. I'm willing to give you everything except overtime if we can find out where those numbers make sense to us both."

"What're you asking for?"

"Right now, on every shift, we spend $160,000, that's 1,000 men at an average pay of $20 an hour. That doesn't include the taxes, insurance or vacation time. They're currently making thirty-two trucks per shift. They also are averaging two out of every hundred that need something redone after quality assurance. One other truck will have a problem after making it through the QA process. That's three percent or one a day that we need to fix."