Union businesses
August 03, 2022
by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Alexandria, VA, USA
Do searchers ever acquire businesses with union labor? Obviously the labor dynamics would be a challenge, but I come across them at a huge discount because nobody wants to buy them. Is this a missed opportunity, or is there a reason nobody wants to buy them?
from The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA
from Harvard University in Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Looks like you’re a West Pointer. A union shop will be the furthest thing from what you experienced with your soldiers. Where soldiers (mostly ;) follow orders and execute, and private sector employees mostly do what you ask if properly incentivized and supported, union employees (at the encouragement of union leadership) do only what is in their very strict job description and not a single thing more unless you go thru a union job description review process (and pay them more for every little thing).
I’m painting with a broad brush, and most union folks are great, but union leadership is antagonistic at best and openly hostile if anything goes sideways. And plenty of non-union shops have terrible cultures, but at least you can come in a make changes to the culture and people in a non-union shop.
The deal would need to be less than half of market value before I’d even think about it. If you like the industry, figure out who their (non-union) competitors are and go make offers for their businesses. Owners will be impressed with your knowledge and Army background, and you might find a great, off-market deal for a discount (and no union issues). And then you can buy the heavily discounted business for their customer list and bring the work over to the non-union facility.