McPier Labor Rules Get Needed Update

Chicago labor guidelines change to offer show managers savings

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 5/16/2005

When Mary Pat Heftman sent a trial balloon to the Chicago media two months ago hoping for some changes in the way labor regulations were outlined at McCormick Place, she never thought she would be this successful this fast.

In March, the Natl. Restaurant Assn. senior vice president announced she was considering moving the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show after 56 years in Chicago. Then, on May 4, two weeks before the May 21–24 show that is expected to draw 77,000 attendees, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and Chicago labor representatives unveiled several specific labor regulation modifications. The rule changes apply to the MPEA's McCormick Place and Navy Pier, coined "McPier" by Chicagoans.

The cost-saving measures, under discussion for 11 months, include adjustments to overtime hours, exhibitor rights and crew sizes; a formalized audit process to review bills submitted by service contractors to show organizers; and the creation of a Labor Management Council that will have the authority to design and implement further rule changes on a case-by-case basis.

"I never expected to be having labor negotiations two weeks before my show," Heftman said. "It says a lot about them all coming together."

Industry members said an agreement that satisfies such a wide variety of interests — MPEA, the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, show managers, service contractors and labor unions — was a major accomplishment. "The fact that everyone was there (at a May 4 press conference) and nobody was killing each other, was a very big bonus," joked Peter Eelman, vice present of exhibitions for the biennial Intl. Manufacturing Technology Show, McCormick Place's second-largest 2004 show.

The groups set their differences aside to cooperate and "understand the value of keeping the current customers that we have," said Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, the central body for more than 300 Chicago-area unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

CCTB CEO Chris Bowers agreed. "I think it's always difficult when you have so many various interests. It's important to be fair to everybody," he said.

But in order to keep show managers, exhibitors and attendees bringing their dollars to Chicago, change was inevitable. "When you take a look at the very competitive business that we're in, it's imperative to reinvent yourself," Bowers said.

McCormick Place, currently the country's largest convention center with 2.2 million square feet of exhibit space, hosted 16 Tradeshow Week 200 shows in 2004. McCormick Place West, opening in 2008 with 470,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, is another venue that, Gannon said, "we want to make sure that we could fill up week in and week out."

Show managers' and exhibitors' longstanding issues with MPEA regulations were resolved with the following changes:

• Shows will have the option of having weekday work performed beginning as early as 6 a.m. at straight time (which was formerly restricted to 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).
• Exhibitors in booths of any size can carry out a wider variety of duties, from hanging signs to hooking up electrical connections, without assistance of union personnel (formerly only exhibitors with booths of 300 sq. ft. or less were given this option).
• Crew sizes will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Rather than assigning three workers to a forklift or for in-booth work (as was the former rule), decisions to allocate workers will be made on an individual basis, during pre-show meetings, and reviewed once again following the show.
• A formal audit process will review bills submitted by the service contractors to show organizers. Individual exhibitors will have the opportunity to file formal complaints, and penalties may be assessed.
• The Labor Management Council will serve as a permanent forum to review issues related to cost, efficiency and the overall show experience, and will have the authority to review and even initiate billing audits.
• A new position, audiovisual delivery technician, was created to handle exhibitors' high-tech needs inside their booths. The worker will be paid 60 percent of a Teamster journeyman's rate.

"We're pleased, and we're supportive," said Tom Shimala, director of technical exhibitions for the Radiological Society of North America Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting. The annual Chicago show, No. 40 on the latest TSW 200, drew 32,674 professional attendees in 2004.

Fellow TSW 200 show manager, Brian Tully, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute, agreed. FMI's Supermarket Industry Convention & Education Exposition (a collocation of five food-industry tradeshows) recently occupied space at McCormick Place.

"The FMI show has certainly enjoyed being there for many, many years, and we wish to remain there in years to come," he said.

The highlight of the agreement for many is the Labor Management Council, to be made up of 16 to 18 representatives from MPEA, CCTB, show management firms, service contractors and local unions.

"I think it's pretty monumental for Chicago," said John Patronski, GES Exposition Services executive vice president of industry development, who has accepted a seat on the council, expected to meet monthly.

Gannon agreed, noting: "At the end of the day, the long-term value is going to be a continuous dialogue."

These will be "healthy" talks that bring each group out of their "foxholes," added Eelman. "It's not just continued contention."

Although the 578,000 net sq. ft. NRA show is on the McCormick Place schedule for the next 10 years, it isn't contractually obligated to the facility for that long. The vast labor changes have made Heftman "optimistic" about keeping the show in Chicago, she said, but she is sticking to her previously announced plan to start a cost-analysis study of other leading tradeshow cities next month.

"That's just a good business process," Heftman said. "It's in our best interest to always be looking in the long term for our customers."

Nevertheless, MPEA officials are basking in the glow of their success at coming to an agreement.

"This is a new day for McCormick Place, one which means lower costs, greater flexibility and a more efficient show for customers," said Leticia Peralta Davis, MPEA CEO.