Union workers protest at Convention Center

Members of the Teamsters Local 107 and Carpenters Local 8 held a small protest outside of the Convention Center on Monday.

Starting at 8 a.m., members of the Carpenters Local 8 were handing out leaflets to passersby near the center’s 12th and Arch St. entrance. The Teamsters and Carpenters have been shut out of working at the Convention Center after failing to agree to new work rules. Here is an expert from their leaflet:

After decades of faithful service, the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority, along with its partners SMG and Elliott-Lewis Convention Services, has decided to simply bar Carpenters from performing work in the Convention Center. After months of negotiations leading to a new tentative agreement, they simply ignored the terms of the agreement and kicked the Carpenters out of the Center, leaving their work to be done by lesser-qualified, inexperienced individuals.

As a result of this heartless decision, hundreds of Philadelphia-area Carpenters are being deprived of an opportunity to make a living. In these tough economic times, Philadelphia Carpenters will have been shamefully deprived of the ability to earn money to pay mortgages and other bills.

The protest coincides with the four day World Congress on Industrial Technology convention, which is expected to draw more than 1,100 people from 40 countries. The convention is also expected to bring in $3 million in economic impact to the Philadelphia, said Pete Peterson, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority.

In preparation, Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the industrial and environmental section of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, sent out an email to attendees informing them that several entrances to the Convention Center would be closed in the upcoming week. Attendees were informed to remove conference badges as they left the center.

The Teamsters and Carpenters have not been back to work since refusing to sign a contract on new work rules by the 11:59 p.m. deadline Monday, May 5. Four of the six unions – Electrical Workers Local 98, Stagehands Local 8, Ironworkers Local 405 and Laborers Local 332 – signed the agreement in time.

The Carpenters said they delivered a signed copy of the agreement Friday, May 9, but the Convention Center said it was too late, barring them from future work. Work would then be spread out among the other four unions, but SMG said work quality would not go down.

“The involvement of carpenters is limited to [convention centers in] the Northeast, and [the] other centers operate efficiently," said Peterson. He said he's confident work requirements would be met without the unions.

Peterson also said the media’s portrayal of the Convention Center’s actions as a “lock out” is wrong, saying that the Convention Center gave all the unions an opportunity to sign the agreement.

“The Carpenters and the Teamsters chose to walk away,” Peterson said. “They made the decision to walk away.”

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal