In business as in life, we all have choices. We can make things better. We can make things worse. Or we can stand on the sidelines and hope for the best.

I’m proud that our company strives to be solidly in the first approach. By actively doing good — raising the standard in our marketplace — we are also doing well, with quarter after quarter of growth and record profitability in many divisions.

It is worthwhile to remind ourselves from time to time what makes the labor movement’s company stand out. The mission of Ullico, like any corporation, is to reward shareholders but that is where the similarity ends. Hand in hand with rewarding shareholders is our mission to protect and strengthen unions and support the workers who are the backbone of our economy and country.

That means helping to create good union jobs. Our real estate investments have created millions of union work hours, while our infrastructure investments come with responsible contracting requirements that give workers a stronger voice. Our investments in renewable energy are helping lead the way to labor standards that are turning solar and other renewable jobs into good union jobs. These investments are not just accounting numbers. They are family-supporting, life-long careers that build the middle class.

In our marketplace, we are leaders in providing products and services uniquely shaped for unions, whether professional liability insurance for leaders, coverage for union halls and training centers, protections against catastrophic claims for union member health insurance plans, life insurance for members’ families and more. These products are lifelines for unions around the country.

And all the while, we do well by treating key stakeholders, our employees and the communities where we invest with the respect they deserve.

Too often, Wall Street firms seek to manage the money of unions while cashing in on business practices that extract profits and assets at the price of workers’ pensions, their contracts or their very jobs. While unions raise the standard for workers, these firms undercut that benchmark and hope investors look the other way.

For example, a well-known private equity firm purchased a sanitation company and financed its operations in part with state worker pensions. It was revealed that the company was employing immigrant children for nightshift work with heavy machinery and hazardous chemicals. The behavior is not an outlier. Another private equity firm promised a pension fund that in return for its investment the company would remain neutral if workers decided to join a union. It then ran an anti-union campaign that resulted in the defeat of the workers effort to join Unite Here.

We must shine a bright light on the way our company raises the standard and how that commitment stands in contrast with other businesses that want a share of the union marketplace only to use workers’ money against them in a race to the bottom.

The strength of our company and the health of America’s unions are intertwined. Unions do good every day by raising wages, securing family-supporting benefits, and making jobs safer and our country’s economy stronger. They do well when they invest billions of dollars in assets with us. And by doing so, they send the message that to get the business of workers and their unions, they will have to be more like Ullico.

Let’s celebrate the Ullico difference — for our success to change the playing field by moving the endzone for all with whom we compete closer to the side of doing good.

Brian J. Hale is CEO and President of Ullico Inc., the nation’s only labor-owned insurance and investment company.