Atlantic City Considers New Labor Structure

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 5/23/2005

The Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority wants its city to be the latest to join a list of those trying to reform tradeshow-related labor rules, but it looks like that might require a little more work.

Although the Atlantic City CVA is attempting to restructure its convention center's labor system to make the city more attractive to tradeshow managers and exhibitors, the mere idea has many show managers, local service contractors and union representatives up in arms.

The CVA board on April 28 tabled a proposal to appoint an independent labor broker at the SMG-managed Atlantic City Convention Center — and rightly so, said Patrick Perrino, president of AEX Convention Services.

"There is no possibility that the change in labor would benefit any customer," Perrino said.

Still, the labor broker option (modeled after one put in place at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Convention Center in 2003) may be reconsidered by the CVA board. Jeff Vasser, CVA executive director, said the matter could appear on the board's June 23 agenda or later in August.

Vasser said the board "did not have enough information to make a determination if this was going to be a positive thing." However, he noted, although the board will be investigating the opportunity thoroughly, "we don't want to do anything to upset the apple cart." The board rejected a similar proposal in 2003.

The board members "need to do their research," said Bob McClintock, regional vice president for SMG, the firm most likely to serve as the convention center's labor broker. McClintock declined to express an opinion on whether a broker would help or hurt show managers. "At this point, we're just supporting the board," he said.

The introduction of a broker to control the labor call and oversee all payrolls would raise costs for service contractors, show managers and show participants, Perrino said, and would primarily benefit one local union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 623.

AEX currently garners nearly half of the center's service contracting business, Perrino added, using members of the Intl. Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 711 for most work and the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 77 for I&D needs. The labor broker is a way for the carpenters and the Teamsters Local 331 to book more convention center business, he claimed.

Robert Tarby, senior council representative for the Carpenters Local 623, said that the change would be an advantage for his union (with 1,400 members working in the Atlantic City tradeshow industry) because it would level "the playing field for all contractors and unions (at the ACCC). The carpenters and Teamsters would benefit mainly, because we would be seeking to preserve the work that has been done by us for over 40 years," he said.

However, regular users of the center, like show managers Howard Casper and Sally O'Shea, would rather have AEX or another service contractor — and not an independent broker — choose their labor.

Casper, show manager for American Bakery Expo — a recently merged version of the Atlantic Bakery Expo and Retail Bakers of America's Marketplace — said he will move the 10,000-attendee show to another East Coast location "like Baltimore or Washington, D.C., that's more labor-friendly" if the labor broker arrangement is approved.

The possible change for the state-controlled ACCC, which offers 500,000 square feet of exhibit space, is "nothing more than a political payback," Casper claimed.

He added, "It's a gigantic step backwards, which doesn't make any economic sense whatsoever."

O'Shea, of Springfield, Pa.-based Comprehensive Show Management, produces two ACCC-scheduled shows: Middle Atlantic Hardscaping Trade Show and The PANTS Trade Show. She said she would also recommend other East Coast locations for the shows if the labor change is made. Because PANTS — short for Penn Allied Nursery Trade Show — outgrew the Fort Washington (Pa.) Expo Center, it is heading to the ACCC for the first time July 25–27, 2006. The Middle Atlantic show is next scheduled Feb. 16–18.

The controversy is disappointing, O'Shea said, because "things seem to be going very well for Atlantic City (otherwise). I'm not quite sure why they're doing it."

The seaside city has added 4,000 new hotel rooms in the last two years, bringing the city's total to 16,000. The new 2,002-room, 43-story Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (with 70,000 sq. ft. of exhibit and meeting space) and a boardwalk rejuvenation are leading the city's "renaissance," Vasser and Perrino both agreed.

The visitors authority is eager to make the convention center "a better environment" in general, Vasser said, and the bureau might alleviate costs associated with the labor broker by absorbing the overhead for the half-dozen staff members.

Perrino is not content with that option. "Why should taxpayers pay for this?" he asked. Instead, Perrino suggests that the ACCVA provide a show manager seat on its state-appointed seven-member board.

Vasser said criticism of the labor broker idea is "premature. (The ACCVA) never got (far) enough to cost it down and really look at it. For some people it's going to be an improvement. The status quo might be better."