PLENARY McCormick Place Labor Agreement

INDUSTRY NEWS Unions Agree to McCormick Place Labor Deal

T

HE YEAR-AND-A-HALF-LONG LABOR- reform standoff at McCormick Place in Chicago reached an amicable solution

in late October, with trade unions agreeing in large part to new work rules instituted by the Illinois state legislature in June 2010, which the unions had subsequently challenged in court.

According to the Metropolitan Pier and

Exposition Authority (MPEA), the municipal corporation that owns McCormick Place, MPEA’s agreement with the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and the International Association of Teamsters, Local 727 — negoti- ated by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — preserves “four key reforms”:  Exhibitors’ right to perform their own work in any size booth, using their own ladders and tools.  The restoration of expanded Monday–

Friday straight-time pay, the elimination of double-time pay on four minor holidays, and a more flexible Saturday schedule.  Exhibitors allowed to operate, load, and unload their own vehicles at McCormick Place docks and loading areas.  Reduction of minimum crew-size requirements from three to two persons.

24 pcma convene December 2011

 WE HAVE A DEAL:

City and state officials, including Chicago

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (fourth from left), Illi- nois Governor Pat

Quinn (sixth from left), and MPEA Trustee Jim Reilly (at the podium) held a press confer-

ence in the Grand Con- course of McCormick Place’s South Building on Oct. 21 to announce that a deal to preserve labor reforms at the convention center had been reached with the trade unions.

In an interview with Convene, MPEA Trustee

Jim Reilly said that he was pleased that the agreement was reached by negotiation rather than court ruling. In return for their coopera- tion, Reilly said, the carpenters will receive some extra work — not associated with McCormick Place — from the city, and MPEA will pay the Teamsters’ legal bills. But the biggest motivating factor for the agreement, Reilly said, was that “[the unions] saw that the leadership really was firm on this.” He added: “And the union leaders care about the trade-show business. They obviously see it in one way, and somebody like me would see it in a somewhat different way — but I think they really do care, all in all.” One new aspect to the agreement is a new

fund — dollar amount TBD — that the city is establishing to promote Chicago as a trade- show destination. And the labor deal is already paying off: Within two days of the announce- ment, the Chicago Tribune reported that Solar Power International, a 27,000-attendee trade show that had previously declared its intention to bring its 2013 event to McCormick Place, only to back off after the lawsuit, has now not only recommitted to 2013 in Chicago, but added 2015 to its calendar as well. n

— Hunter R. Slaton www.pcma.org