The Democrats left, and the Carpenters union came back.
With an inflated "fat cat" figure, a sound system,
banners, and signs, about 50 carpenters protested outside the Convention Center
on Friday afternoon, pressing the state authority that runs the venue to let
them back in.
The scene served as a noisy reminder of lingering labor
issues in the city less than 24 hours after the team scouting Philadelphia for
the 2016 Democratic National Convention had finished its two-day tour.
This union-friendly city is one of five finalists to host
the event, and organizers want assurances there will be no labor conflicts
during the convention to avoid any disruptions or embarrassing images for the
Democratic Party, historically tied to organized labor.
"That's one of their concerns," said Patrick
Eiding, who heads the Philadelphia AFL-CIO and who attended a breakfast
Thursday with the visiting site selection committee. "They want to make
sure there'll be labor peace."
If interunion disputes arise, Eiding said in an interview,
"we'll fix it some other way besides putting a rat or cat out there."
He and other local labor leaders pledged that unions would
put up at least $5 million toward the roughly $80 million the local host
committee needs to raise from private sources to pay the expenses of holding
the convention.
The potential for organized labor to get its nose publicly
out of joint is all too familiar to DNC convention organizers. In 2012, union
leaders were angry when the party held its convention in the
"right-to-work" state of North Carolina, home to one of the
least-unionized workforces in the United States. Many national unions declined
to contribute to the Charlotte convention, and some union members protested
near the site.
In 2000, when Philadelphia hosted the Republican convention,
union members welcomed the GOP by wearing T-shirts that read "Republican
for a week." Even so, there were reports that members of the Electricians
union had disputes with media companies that wanted to set up their own
equipment.
"Everybody has put aside all that for the good of
Philadelphia and the region," John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the
politically wired leader of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, told The Inquirer on Friday.
"There won't be an issue," he said. "Labor
leaders are professional and know the convention would bring plenty of work for
everybody."
Indeed, the mere possibility that Philadelphia will get the
convention may be producing some fringe benefits for labor.
The 8,800 blue-collar city employees represented by District
Council 33 of AFSCME have worked for five years without a contract, and negotiations
with the city had been at a standstill - until recently, the union's leader
said.
Municipal workers have had rocky relations with Mayor
Nutter, who has sought deep concessions on work rules and benefits, and who has
been dogged by union protests. Last year, Nutter was unable to give his budget
speech because of protests in the City Council chamber. After trying to get
courts to impose contract terms, the administration eventually settled with
some of its unions - but not with its biggest, D.C. 33.
City Council President Darrell L. Clarke - who termed the
situation "ridiculous" and unfair to a union that includes sanitation
and streets workers who won wide praise during the brutal winter - said the
wooing of the DNC offered an opportunity for settlement.
"One way to make sure we're viewed as a labor-friendly
venue for the convention," Clarke said, "is to give these people a
contract."
Pete Matthews, president of D.C. 33, said that there was a
negotiating session Aug. 8 and that the city was receptive to considering union
proposals for saving on benefits.
"This is the first movement we've seen from the city in
a long time," Matthews said. "I absolutely believe it can be worked
out with common sense and fairness."
Councilman James Kenney noted that by the time the
convention happens, Philadelphia would have a new mayor. "I don't know if
they can get a contract until [Nutter] is gone," said Kenney, who is
considering a run for the job. "By the time the convention rolls around,
whoever's mayor can get it done."
By comparison, Brooklyn, N.Y., seen as Philadelphia's
fiercest rival for the convention, has enjoyed a degree of labor peace in
recent years. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was elected last year with
strong union support - and hasn't been in office long enough to lock horns with
his city's municipal unions. Of course, if the DNC does pick Philadelphia,
there are still two years to try to work out the tangled dispute at the
Convention Center, a slow brawl that pits the Metropolitan Regional Council of
Carpenters and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters against the center's
management and four other trade unions working there.
The Carpenters and Teamsters had delayed signing on to new
work rules designed to make exhibitions less expensive and smoother for
customers at the center. Eventually, they agreed to the terms - but the
center's management barred them and handed the work to two other unions.
To be sure, Carpenters picket lines and the inflatable cat
might become a less frequent sight outside the Convention Center. A mediation
meeting on the dispute is scheduled for next month before the state Labor
Relations Board, said Marty O'Rourke, spokesman for the Carpenters.
"We're going into that meeting with good intentions,
and we hope that management is, too, and that we can work out a reasonable
solution," he said. "The carpenters fully support the DNC coming
here."
Source: Philly.com
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