One CEO explains why she values her union workforce

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One of my first Modern CEO newsletters highlighted the opportunity for CEOs to have constructive conversations with organized labor. It was a contrary take at a time when Amazon, Starbucks, and Apple were all fighting employees’ unionization efforts. But once again, there’s a gap between corporate efforts and public preference. More than two-thirds (68%) of Americans say they approve of unions, according to August 2025 data from Gallup, up from 58% a decade earlier. (Disclosure: Most of Mansueto Ventures’s editorial employees are represented by the Writers Guild of America East.) 

Collective Strengths 

International Workers’ Day is May 1, a public holiday in many parts of the world that’s equivalent to Labor Day in the U.S. and Canada. In recognition of May Day, I spoke with Judy Marks, chair, CEO, and president of Otis Worldwide Corp. At Otis, which makes, installs, services, and modernizes elevators and escalators, 64% of its U.S. employees are governed by collective bargaining agreements, and much of its international workforce are also under union contracts. For Marks, those agreements provide certainty at a time when much of the business landscape is in flux. 

“As a CEO, I would love predictability in everything we do, but it’s especially [valuable] in labor, which is so critical for us,” she says. Otis has 72,000 total employees; 45,000 are frontline workers doing installations, repairs, and maintenance. 

Beyond offering assurances around the cost and availability of labor, Marks says the unions help underline a culture of safety. The contract Otis has with the International Union of Elevator Constructors, a multi-employer union that covers workers in the U.S. and Canada, includes rules around equipment handling on job sites and additional measures designed to protect the safety of workers and others. 

“Having a consistent set [of work rules] that we can use throughout the U.S. and Canada is very important to protect the safety of our colleagues, our mechanics, and the riding public,” Marks says.

The intersection of unions and tech 

I asked Marks about the impact that artificial intelligence will have on Otis employees in the field. The company has been using predictive software for years to support its field teams, and Marks is unequivocal about the impact on her field workers: “I look at them and say, ‘You will have a job. You will have a meaningful opportunity,’” she says, describing her vision as “human-led and AI-enabled.”  

Otis, for example, has tools that provide mechanics with information about which service calls to prioritize. Virtualization software can help them take pictures and order parts in real time. Late last year, the company introduced a robot that can inspect escalators overnight, identifying debris and wear so that when a mechanic shows up in the morning, they know exactly what issue to address, avoiding disruption for riders. Marks envisions a day when AI technology agents will allow a rider to verbally state their destination once in an elevator, a potential benefit to those who are visually impaired or simply may have forgotten which floor, say, their doctor’s office is on. 

Marks notes that Otis, which was founded in 1853 and last year posted $14.4 billion in revenue, has worked with unions in the U.S. and Canada for more than a century. And many union members are second-generation employees of the company, which has a positive impact on the workplace. Marks believes Otis’s culture benefits from the fact that management and labor are united in their purpose. “We [share] a focus on customers and quality of service,” she says, “and we’re aligned on our vision, which is giving people freedom to connect and thrive in a taller, faster, smarter world.”  

Are your employees unionized?

Are you a CEO running a company with unionized employees? Is your relationship with labor confrontational or constructive, and how do you navigate the relationship? Send your insights to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and we’ll publish some of your thoughts in a future newsletter.   
 
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Photo essay: Portraits of the American Worker  
 
Why people can’t build wealth on wages alone 

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