Terminated Producer Seeks To Unionize AllstateAgents

A prominent agent recently dismissed by Allstate InsuranceCompany has announced that he is leading an independent drive tounionize Allstate agents.

Allstate exclusive agents have no say when the company considerschanging their contracts, said John F. Bryant, national boardmember of the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents,a Canton, Mich.-based group. “It's a one-way street,” he declared,adding that Allstate exclusive agents need “someone to look out fortheir interests, someone who can bargain with the company.”

According to Mr. Bryant, an agent union is the solution thatwould lead to favorable changes. Among other things, unionizationwould permit issues such as compensation, quotas and terminationprocedures to be negotiated by management and professionalnegotiators, he said. “At this time, Allstate exclusive agents haveno right to negotiate,” he said. “The fate of thousands of agentsis left up to senior Allstate managers, many of whom have neversold an Allstate policy.”

Mr. Bryant made the announcement through NAPAA. He also servesas legislative chair of the Coalition of Exclusive AgentAssociations, a Baltimore-based organization.

As for the mechanics of Mr. Bryant's unionization effort, hereported having agents “in almost every state” working with him. Healso has an informational Web site (www.agentsforfreedom.com).

Mr. Bryant said that the New York-based Office and ProfessionalEmployees International Union will be assisting in the drive. Healso thinks he will be making a few “road trips around the country”to further the effort.

He said that e-mail will be his biggest and most effective toolfor getting the word out to Allstate agents.

Mr. Bryant recently learned that the Northbrook, Ill.-basedAllstate had terminated his contract in an abrupt fashion (seeNU, April 15, page 43). On April 2, while Mr. Bryant wascoping with a computer malfunction at his Hammond, La., J&BBryant Agency office, a computer technician told him about ane-mail from Allstate stating that Mr. Bryant's contract ofappointment had been terminated.

Later that day, a group of Allstate representatives accompaniedby a hired security officer arrived at his office with an officialtermination letter, he said. The letter stated that Mr. Bryant hadfailed “to maintain a professional and business-like relationship”with Allstate, and that his agency had failed to meet Allstate's“business objectives.”

The Allstate representatives had Mr. Bryant's telephone andcomputer systems removed from the office that same day, although acompany spokesperson later stated that the termination was noteffective until Aug. 1.

Mr. Bryant explained that Allstate will continue paying himrenewal commissions until the end of July. “They may buy my book,but then they pay out in 12 payments, which they can stop if theydesire to,” he said. In the meantime, he is mulling his careeroptions, he stated.

Allstate's termination notice came just weeks after Mr. Bryanttestified before a Maryland legislative committee on why he opposesinsurer use of consumer credit scores. He has similarly testifiedin other states. Allstate denied that Mr. Bryant's anti-creditscore activities motivated the termination. Instead, the companyintimated that, among other things, Mr. Bryant failed to meetcompany financial objectives, which he has denied.

Additionally, according to Allstate's director of mediarelations, Mary Alice Horstman, “maintaining a professionalrelationship” means that Allstate expects its agents to act in goodfaith in the performance of their contractual obligations, and torefrain from “any activities that damage the Allstate brand, theAllstate reputation in the marketplace, or its relationships withits customers, its agencies or its employees.”

Mr. Bryant also has been active in other areas, such as asuccessful drive in Louisiana to forbid insurers from imposing lifeand health insurance sales quotas as a condition for authority tosell property-casualty insurance.

NAPAA has specified that it is not associated with any union.But it invoked the First Amendment right to free speech whiledeclaring that it reports to its members and Allstate agents atlarge on issues important to them, including unionization.

An Allstate official contacted NU and said the companywanted to submit a written response to an earlier version of thisarticle reporting the unionization effort, originally publishedlast week on the “NU Online News Service,” but did not getback to NU before this story went to press. For Allstate'sresponse, see the “Hot News” section at NationalUnderwriter.com, ornext week's edition.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, April 29, 2002.Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.