An Allstate agents' group is asking its members to consideraligning with a union and forming a guild to aid in its fightagainst what the group says are unfair business practices towardagents by the company.

The National Association ofProfessional Allstate Agents Inc. (NAPAA) says it is asking membersto vote on a proposal for the association to affiliate with theOffice and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) as aguild.

“Agent morale at Allstate has hit rock bottom, which cannot begood for the company, the agents or the shareholders,” says JimFish, NAPAA executive director, in a statement. “This is not amatter of political philosophy; it's a matter of defending theinterests of ill-treated small-business owners.”

The decision, NAPAA says, was made after “an enthusiasticresponse” from those attending a recent meeting of the associationboard.

Fish says ballots are to be mailed out soon and will beadministered by the American Arbitration Association. The resultswill be announced soon after they are counted on Aug. 17.

Fifty-one percent of the membership must vote in favor of theproposal, Fish tells NU. He says NAPAA represents 12percent of the Northbrook, Ill.-based carrier's agentworkforce.

The OPEIU represents 125,000 employees and guild members and isaffiliated with the AFL-CIO. If affiliated, NAPAA will be grantedmembership in the OPEIU, the national AFL-CIO and all StateFederations of Labor, “giving the agent group better access tolegislative assistance and legal expertise.”

Fish says the affiliation will not give the groupcollective-bargaining rights, but he says NAPAA feels it is thebest way to protect agents. With the backing of more than 11million AFL-CIO members, he indicates that the collective cloutcould have some impact on company policy in the future.

“The corporation is taking advantage of agents, and you justhave to defend yourself,” says Fish. “The company has been firingagents for little or no reason,” focusing on older agents—and thatis causing stress within the agency ranks, he adds.

“With more clout with the company, more members may join NAPAA;and with more members, the more the company will listen,” saysFish.

Allstate agents were once employees of the company, but in thelate 1990s they were fired and re-hired as independent contractors.Since then, there has been an ongoing feud between certain agentsand the company over the relationship, with NAPAA contending thatagents are treated like employees despite the fact they areindependent contractors—a point the company has disputed.

The latest round of acrimony began when Allstate revealed plansto consolidate smaller agencies' books into larger ones for thesake of efficiency. It also plans to cut agency commissions on newand renewal business, but increase variable compensation forobtaining certain business goals.

This marks the second time an attempt was made at unionizationof Allstate agents. In 2002, a terminated agent and NAPAA boardmember sought to unionize agents, but the plan went nowhere.

A request for comment from Allstate was not immediatelyreturned.

Allstate Protection President Leaves

Meanwhile, in a short statement, Allstate announced that JosephP. Lacher Jr., president of Allstate Protection, is leaving thecompany, effective immediately. 

Allstate says various presidents as well as claims andproduct-operations executives of the Allstate Protection units willreport directly to Thomas J. Wilson, Allstate's CEO.

The Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer gave no other details aboutthe change in leadership and says it does not comment on personnelmatters.

Lacher, who led all of Allstate's property and casualtyofferings as president of Allstate Protection, no longer appears ona list of executives on Allstate's website.

Lacher was hired by Allstate in late November 2009 fromTravelers, where he served as CEO of personal insurance andexecutive vice president at Travelers. He succeeded GeorgeRuebenson, who was with Allstate for about 40 years.

Last month at an investor conference, Lacher outlined a businessplan to grow Allstate's P&C segments with a new distributionmodel. The NAPAA did not look upon the plan favorably. 

Lacher told investors Allstate will be increasing homeowners'rates and tightening underwriting standards in an effort to achievea combine ratio in the low 60s, excluding catastrophes, by2013.