Chicago labor controversy continues
Following last week’s news that Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority proposed legislation to the Illinois State Assembly that would essentially turn union workers at McCormick Place into public employees and prohibit labor strikes, McCormick Place unions have proposed a customer “bill of rights” for exhibitors and sweeping audits to ensure that savings are passed along to exhibitors. Union leaders argue that labor rates are not the problem.
“It’s very easy to paint a picture that it’s all organized labor’s problem at McCormick Place,” says Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon. “It’s not organized labor’s problem. It’s the business model. It’s the way trade shows have changed over the years and we haven’t changed with them. We’ve cut crew sizes, overtime and work-rules. We’ve done some monumental things. We don’t believe anybody else has done as much as we have, yet we’re still the target. It’s not our fault. The savings never got passed along.”
The Exhibition Services & Contractors Association (ESCA) also recently voiced its disapproval of the proposed legislation. “ESCA encourages the MPEA and the Illinois Legislature to delay hasty implementation of the proposed legislation,” the association said in a press release. “ESCA encourages a thorough review of all options, in a public and transparent way, with input from stakeholders and the exhibition industry. ESCA supports, in principle, the need to reform labor in Chicago’s exhibition facilities. However, the process to achieve reform should be open and transparent and focused on the customer. If Chicago truly desires to improve its offering to the exhibition industry and remain a destination of choice it should slow down, listen to its clients, and make changes that embrace a competitive open marketrather than eliminating it.”
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