Union Relationships

KPS, a private equity firm, has a proven track record of investing in manufacturing facilities and operating them profitably and sustainably…Steelworkers, our families and communities cannot afford to allow these good, union jobs to continue to disappear. KPS brings experience and a long-term business plan geared toward keeping our plant viable and employment secure.

Our union is committed to working with KPS to ensure that the proud tradition of engine-making is preserved for future generations of USW members here in Milwaukee. As long as workers remain united in solidarity, there are no limits to what we can accomplish.

KPS has taken a positive and professional approach to the contract negotiations that were required to complete this change of ownership. They have shown a great deal of respect for the role that UAW members play in creating a quality product, and that’s a very good sign for the future of the business.

It’s been a productive relationship. It was quite a successful deal in this one case, where many people had written it off as hopeless.

They believe in building up companies instead of ripping them apart. That said, they are not a nonprofit. … But if they look for concessions they try to give equity in exchange for them. They try to do things in collaboration with their work force.

As a trade union we have a natural antipathy towards private equity, which usually has totally divergent interests to those of workers. But KPS has produced a deal that does save jobs and gives some comfort to those who have been forced to take redundancy. It could have been a lot worse.

As a result of the acquisition of Blue Ridge Paper by Packaging Holdings Incorporated the USW employee-owners, our Union and KPS Capital was a driving force in creating a new and successful company out of assets many industry experts said should close. I congratulate all of those involved on their accomplishment. Through our members’ sacrifices, investment in their futures, hard work, dedication and focus, we have again proven the experts were wrong. The Company’s employee-owners and our USW members are receiving nearly $30 million of cash in their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) accounts, a new and improved collective bargaining agreement, and a bright future with Packaging Holdings Incorporated. This is another example of the successful collaboration between Steelworkers and KPS over the past two decades.

We have had a long term relationship with KPS, and have successfully worked with the company on numerous acquisitions that have resulted in the creation of thriving businesses. We appreciate KPS’s constructive approach to doing business.

Our work with KPS over the last several months speaks volumes about the many benefits of using an approach where labor and management work together to create high value deals where workers win, enterprise wins, and the community wins. This is the model to restore economic vibrancy to our economy.

They are willing to share information with unions, so they are seen as a partner we can work with. Just about every other hedge fund or private equity fund doesn’t even want to have a union agreement.

[KPS is] unique among private equity funds. KPS worked with us, and bent over backwards to help us create a structure that will truly benefit the worker.