Decorators Next in Line In Chicago

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 9/4/2006

Chicago labor unions last month continued their spree of concessions for McCormick Place shows. And just as it happened in May, another landmark agreement preceded a massive show, this time the biennial Intl. Manufacturing Technology Show.

The new five-year collective bargaining agreement was signed Aug. 22 between the venue's two largest service contractors, GES Exposition Services and Freeman, and the city's decorators, represented by United Steelworkers Local 17.

Key features of the new contract include reduced overtime charges, reduced crew sizes, random drug testing, more crew management rights for contractors and increased wages and benefits for the decorators.

The parties began negotiating the new contract in May. The previous contract expired at the end of June, and the new one is retroactive to July 1. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, owner and operator of McCormick Place, facilitated the negotiations.

In May, the two contractors and the Riggers Union Local 136 reached a new five-year agreement a few days before the opening of the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, which has since re-upped with MPEA through 2011 after threatening to leave Chicago because of difficult work rules.

Before the same show in 2005, the MPEA announced a first stage of reforms, which allowed exhibitors to do more in-booth work, established that crew sizes would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, introduced an audit process for bills submitted by service contractors to organizers and established a labor management council.

The decorators' union members hang signs and install drape, cloth and/or tacked fabric panels at shows.

The heart of the new agreement, in regard to reduced overtime charges, calls for:

• two weekday start times (8 and 10 a.m.) with the first eight hours at straight time;
• Saturdays billed at time-and-a-half instead of double time for the first eight hours; and
• the first four hours following the break of a show billed at straight time.

Furthermore, contractors are now able to be more involved in the assignment of workers and can direct crews in how they perform their jobs.

Like the decorators' contract, the riggers' contract reduced overtime charges and included clear language on reduced crew sizes. The riggers' agreement also permits show exhibitors to ask for Local 136 workers by name for most of their crew members and allows contractors to employ one apprentice for every five journeymen.

Peter Eelman, vice president of exhibitions for AMT — the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology, operator of IMTS, said it's "tremendous" that the Chicago labor groups are working together to help the tradeshow industry instead of fighting to the finish.

"It seems to me that everyone understands that we're all better off trying to find new creative approaches than digging fox holes and launching grenades at each other," he said. "Everybody seems to be on a similar page."

The show, No. 3 on the 2005 Tradeshow Week 200, opens Sept. 6 at McCormick Place.

The parties directly involved in the agreement say the changes will mean more flexibility and reduced costs for exhibitors and show management. They also expect the new pact to lead to similar agreements with the Intl. Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 714, Local 10 Chicago & Northeast Illinois District Council of Carpenters and Intl. Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134. Teamster and carpenter contracts expire in 2008; the electricians' contract is up in 2009.

McCormick Place General Manager David Causton said he credits the Labor Management Council with a lot of the recent developments. "Everyone's represented around the table," he said. "We're trying to make the most impact for our end-user customer."

Mark Theis, executive vice president for the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, said Chicago's recent era of labor reform is one reason he signed on with the bureau several weeks ago, after spending 12 years with the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"No one can deny that Chicago unfortunately had a misperceived perception relating to labor. This only reiterates the community's commitment to convention and tourism business," he said.

"It's our hope that the others will follow suit," Theis added, speaking of the three agreements expiring in 2008 and 2009. "These are all things that are going to continue to make the city jump to new heights (in the tradeshow industry)."

Tony DeGrado, president of the decorators union, said, "This contract protects the seniority rights of our members and gives them job security and a decent standard of living."

John Patronski, executive vice president of industry development for GES, said "there's a lot of good" to the new contract. "It's all to provide a higher level of service."

Doug Van Ort, senior vice president for Freeman's Midwest operation, said the contract is "another important step in the continuing process towards improving the labor situation for the Chicago tradeshow industry."