John Deere · Waterloo Works · 2021

35 Days. Leading Communications Through Crisis.

A vote-by-vote timeline of the contract negotiation, and the team communications effort that ran alongside it, from a year of continuity planning to the final agreement.

MY ROLE

Served as the communications lead during 35 days of labor uncertainty affecting 5,000+ employees, coordinating with corporate PR, Labor Relations, and Legal across three contract votes. Ran daily strategy sessions to keep messaging consistent as conditions shifted fast.

1 yr
Continuity planning before day one
35
Days on strike
3
Contract votes navigated
5,000+
Employees kept informed
Daily
Strategy meetings with PR, LR & Legal

How I Worked

Coordination & Planning

  • Participated in daily or twice-daily incident response team meetings.
  • Maintained a communications log to track what was sent, to whom, and when.
  • Coordinated messaging across PR, Legal, Labor Relations, and HR to ensure consistency before anything went out.
  • Served as the single point of contact for communications approvals during the labor action.

Employee Communications

  • Drafted and distributed employee updates on operational status, facility access, and safety protocols.
  • Managed FAQ documents updated in real time as new information became available.
  • Prepared manager talking points so frontline leaders had consistent, approved language.
  • Communicated across multiple channels (email, digital signage, intranet, text alerts) to reach both office and production employees.

External & Media-Facing

  • Prepared holding statements and media responses in coordination with corporate PR.
  • Monitored local news and social media for coverage and flagged anything requiring a response.
  • Supported the approval process for any public-facing statements.

Stakeholder & Leadership Support

  • Briefed senior leaders on communications activity and flagged employee sentiment signals.
  • Helped sequence communications so employees heard from the company before information went public.
  • Drafted scripts for leader-led conversations with teams.
Oct 1
Contract expires, 2-week extension granted
Comms action: Continuity plan placed on standby, with leadership briefed on what would trigger it if talks ran past the deadline.
Oct 10
Vote 1: Rejected about 90%
Comms action: Prepared employees for a possible strike and started drafting contingency messaging with the team ahead of the deadline.
Oct 14
Strike begins at midnight
Comms action: Continuity plan activated within hours. A crisis response structure stood up alongside corporate PR, Labor Relations, and Legal. Daily strategy meetings and executive briefings started immediately.
Oct 30
Second tentative agreement reached
Comms action: Briefed leadership on messaging for the upcoming vote and kept daily updates with the team calm and steady as the strike entered its third week.
Nov 2
Vote 2: Rejected 55% overall, 71% in Waterloo
Comms action: Working with PR and Labor Relations, reinforced the core message that this dispute was temporary and business-related, not personal, as local sentiment ran hottest in Waterloo of any site.
Nov 12
"Last, best and final" offer announced
Comms action: Prepared leadership and employee messaging for a third vote alongside PR and Legal, matching what employees heard internally to what went out publicly.
Nov 17
Vote 3: Approved 61 to 39 percent, strike ends
Comms action: Led return-to-work messaging with the team, focused on trust and continuity as employees came back to every site.

"Emotions were running high on both sides. Staying calm and making sure employees received updates as they became available to share was the most important thing I could do."

Kelly Henderson, Communications Lead, John Deere Waterloo Works