Successful Meetings - March 2010 - (Page 8)

Chicago seeks convention labor reforms etting into motion sweeping changes to labor work rules at McCormick Place and convention contracting in Chicago, state and city officials last month proposed legislation they hope will lower costs and lure big meeting planners back to the city. After losing two major conventions in November to what planners deemed to be more affordable locales, Illinois governor Pat Quinn and Chicago mayor Richard Daley introduced legislation in the state’s general assembly “to reform labor rules and contractor practices that have hindered Chicago’s ability to win and retain major convention and trade show business.” The proposed legislation would establish the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), which owns and operates McCormick Place and Navy Pier, as a public employer under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, thereby bringing convention labor groups, including contractors responsible for move-in, setup, show services, and breakdown of expos “under the oversight of MPEA.” That move would prohibit labor strikes, while reducing the number of unions representing show services from five to three—a change that MPEA said would allow work groups to “operate more efficiently and transparently for customers.” The legislation also would free MPEA from its current agreements with contractors and unions, enabling it to “negotiate show labor agreements with new value, transparency, and flexibility for the customer,” while also giving MPEA oversight to audit convention contracts “to ensure that labor costs are accurately represented.” The plan to sweeten the city’s value proposition to convention planners found urgency among city, state, and industry leaders after the Society of the Plastics Industry shunned its decadeslong home at McCormick Place, opting instead to hold its 2012 National Plastics Expo at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. That blow followed the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s selection of Las Vegas as the host city for its 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, beating out second-place contender Chicago. Those trade groups and others have cited the high cost of putting on shows in continued on page 11 I SM I March 2010 I SuccessfulMeetings.com http://www.SuccessfulMeetings.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - March 2010

Successful Meetings - March 2010
Contents
Editor's Letter
A Dust-Up in the Windy City
Education
Mouth for Sale
Incentive Insights
Management Matters
Meetings Law
Good Neighbor
Feast Not Famine
Spreading Out
Your Guide to Green
Places + Spaces
Houston
New York City
Florida Keys
Oahu
Quebec City

Successful Meetings - March 2010

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