Professional Labor: An Oxymoron?

Las Vegas Teamsters say they're setting a new tradeshow standard

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 1/29/2007

Las Vegas—Teamsters Local 631 believes it has the most authoritative and comprehensive tradeshow training program in the country, and it just might.

The Southern Nevada union's 5-year-old Joint Apprenticeship Training program requires convention workers to complete 288 hours of class work over two years, plus 2,000 hours of on-the-job training before they become certified journeymen. Apprentices must finish three weeks of the program before they're even allowed on a showfloor.

Maybe that sounds like it would be enough to scare off any wanna-be showfloor workers, but that's far from the case. Two weeks ago, program directors picked 150 students from several hundred applicants. They'll start the twice-yearly program March 5, and in two years' time join the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 active journeymen in the union.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration and the Nevada State Apprenticeship Council certify the union's convention training program; the Nevada Board of Education approves the class curriculum.

Rebecca Smith, executive director of Local 631's convention training program, is in the process of developing Web-based classes that she hopes will be available this year, and she's working with the Community College of Southern Nevada so that her students can get college credit to apply toward an associate's degree in applied sciences.

"They think I do voodoo down here," Smith said, describing the reaction she gets when she tells other Teamsters around the country about her program. "We are the only registered program like this in the entire U.S."

She and Don McNamee, Local 631 vice president, said the most convention training that carpenters and stagehands get in other cities is three days, at best.

Representatives of other work forces conceded that the trade-show industry's leading city might have an edge in formal training, but they were quick to point out their own efforts as well.

In New York, for instance, the carpenters' union has a state-approved, 50-hour class to train tradeshow workers. "If somebody wants to be on our tradeshow list, he has to have the certification," said New York City District Council of Carpenters and Joiners' Rich Tucillo.

However, Tucillo added, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York doesn't require the workers it hires to have the union certification. The District Council of Carpenters has contracts with several other hotels and exhibit facilities in the city, he said, but the Javits "does hire and fire people at its own choice."

For its shows, the Javits taps Teamsters Local 807 in addition to the Carpenters, said John Dillon, the facility's director of labor. Javits offers — but doesn't require — a two- to three-hour class in tradeshow training, along with refresher courses of about an hour each. They teach workers "how to deal with the exhibitors and contractors they're assigned to," Dillon said.

In addition, Javits workers have to complete eight to 10 hours of safety training for their specific trade. "Teamsters receive forklift safety training ... Carpenters get ladder safety, aerial and scissor lift safety, property bending and lifting techniques," explained Madeline Morano, health and safety manager for the center.

Workers receive a certificate when they complete the training, which is "based on the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration," said Morano, an OSHA-certified trainer.

Dillon added that feedback about Javits labor is mostly positive: "We talk to a lot of outside contractors who say they prefer working here over Las Vegas and Atlanta, where the labor is not up to scratch."

Perhaps no city's labor force has been under closer scrutiny in recent years than Chicago's, and that has brought about an increase in training, according to McCormick Place General Manager David Causton.

"We have a major initiative going on in the facility to improve the experience of our customers," said Causton.

McCormick Place has contracts with five major unions, he said: electricians, riggers, carpenters, teamsters and decorators. With one of them, the Intl. Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134, McCormick Place has developed a four- to eight-hour training program for tradeshow customer service.

"We have committed to training 290 employees, including pool electricians that can be called for event activity," Causton said. "We hired a full-time trainer, Linda McKinney, and she has conducted training for 161 of the 290 people."

The training doesn't focus on convention labor, per se, because "all the trade unions have sophisticated training programs on their skill craft," he said. Rather, McCormick Place's program teaches "what the convention and tradeshow business is all about. How big is it? What's the economic impact on the city and state? And then we talk about customer service and dealing with exhibitors."

McKinney also did a one-day workshop with riggers, and plans to extend training to carpenters. For now, the program isn't required: "We've gotten full cooperation from Freeman and GES (Exposition Services)," said Causton. "We haven't needed to mandate it, because there's a feeling by everyone involved that it's the right thing to do."

Fred Bevis, who oversees convention training for Orlando's Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 835, was unavailable at press time, and no one else from IATSE would comment on the program.

The union's Web site states, "We conduct training and skills certification classes for our members several times each year in cooperation with our contracted employers ... We also train our union stewards and leads to provide the highest level of job-site leadership possible."

John Plescia, director of event operations for Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, said the facility has "in-house training programs for the technical aspects of our utilities and rigging sections."

The OCCC has no labor agreement with IATSE, he added, but "we support their efforts in building and maintaining a qualified workforce by providing complimentary space to conduct new hire training, carpet specialist training, high lift training and CPR training."

All this may make Las Vegas' program look advanced by comparison, but don't get the idea that the Teamsters' work is done.

Local 631 labor is "a lot better than it used to be," said Jim Ness, executive director of management and labor relations for Freeman, which holds a seat on the Joint Apprenticeship Training committee.

Ness said the apprenticeship program has improved both the intake and output process, more carefully screening applicants to make sure they have a certain degree of education and are drug-free, as well as turning out more skilled and knowledgeable labor.

Still, Ness worries about having enough qualified workers. "We'll always battle supply and demand. This town continues to explode," he said. On top of that, "Freeman's standard is high. We want a quality individual to not just set up and take down a booth and roll carpet. We want them to know how to interact with customers."

To that end, Freeman trains its own labor crew supervisors in-house.

Meanwhile, Smith said she'll continue to push for the best convention program in the country. She estimated that the union spends more than $1 million per year on its Joint Apprenticeship Training.

"We want a professional labor force in Las Vegas," she said. "We want our guys to know the law and learn to deal with exhibitors on the professional level they're used to, so that people walk away from here saying we're the best."