It's a hot August day, and construction workers in Center
City are marching with protest signs that read "End the Lockout" and
"Shame on You." Alongside them is an inflatable fat cat whose paw is
wrapped around the neck of a blown-up carpenter.
The Carpenters Local 8 has been picketing outside of the
Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia for months over the
loss of their jobs. In May, more than 100 carpenters as well as nearly 20
members of the Teamsters Local 107 lost their jobs at the site when they missed
the Convention Center management's deadline to sign onto new work rules.
"A good number of our members are now unemployed,
looking for jobs," said Martin O'Rourke, a spokesman for the Carpenters
union. "It's just this ongoing disruption to their lives as well as to the
city of Philadelphia."
Four other labor unions, including the electricians and the
stagehands, signed the deal in time and have crossed a picket line to keep
working.
How could this happen in such a traditionally pro-labor
city?
Outdated rules blamed for dearth of business
Last year, the Convention Center was in trouble. It wasn't
attracting enough conferences, and critics said outdated work rules were to
blame.
John Dougherty, head of the city's powerful Electricians
Local 98, said he agreed to change them to save his members' jobs and those in
the hospitality industry.
"We made them for the good of the region," he
said. "The hospitality industry, the chambermaid, the bartender, the
parking attendant, the guy outside the Starbucks across the street, the
McDonald's around the corner. This was good for all business."
The Convention Center's management said the new deal has
already made a difference, with conferences that had sworn off Philadelphia now
making plans to return.
For their part, the carpenters and teamsters say that if the
dispute is about new work rules, they've already agreed to them. The unions
offered signed contracts to the Convention Center on May 9, one day before
their old terms expired. The management's deadline, though, was May 5.
United front or irreconcilable differences?
Teamsters president Bill Hamilton said the ongoing dispute
is hurting Philadelphia's labor movement. He said it was especially damaging
when Dougherty ushered his members across the picket line.
"It's given all labor a black eye, every labor union in
the city," he said. "It certainly doesn't help anybody's organizing
efforts, and it kind of makes it look like the unions aren't together in the
city."
But Dougherty said the city's labor groups are more united
than ever before, and the vast majority of them meet regularly. He said the
carpenters, and the teamsters to a lesser extent, have long chosen not to get
more involved.
For instance, Dougherty said, the Carpenters Local 8 opposed
Gov. Tom Corbett's transportation funding bill, while he and other labor
leaders supported it. The carpenters disagreed with the legislation's wage
requirements for some projects.
Dougherty also points out that the Carpenters Local 8
stopped paying dues to the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades
Council for a period of time. According to Pat Gillespie, business manager of
the council, the union now only contributes a portion of what it once did.
Carpenters spokesman O'Rourke declined to comment on the matter.
"There's a pattern of the carpenter not being part of
the family. There's a pattern of the carpenter dancing to his own tune even to
the point where it was the main reason why a lot of these shows did not come
back to the Pennsylvania Convention Center," said Dougherty. "Now
we're acting like there's a break in the family. Most of the family that would
eat together and vacation together anyway are staying together."
Gillespie, whose trades council includes the teamsters, also
rejected the notion that the city's labor movement has been wounded.
"What would hurt our movement is if we didn't have
jobs, if we lost conventions, if we lost hotel construction
opportunities," he said. "That's what hurts the perception of
organized labor."
The unity of the city's labor groups — or lack thereof —
could have a big impact on the 2015 mayor's race. Dougherty and others want to
find one candidate they can all get behind, after seeing their efforts falter
in the 2007 race when unions supported a medley of different candidates for
mayor.
The Democratic National Committee, which is eyeing
Philadelphia to host its 2016 presidential convention, has also reportedly
indicated that there cannot be any labor disruptions during the event.
"If it doesn't get resolved and the Democratic National
Convention decides to come here, then they're going to be facing some labor
issues at that point in time," said the teamsters' Hamilton, "and I
don't think the Democratic National Committee is going to want to do
that."
The carpenters said a mediation meeting with Pennsylvania
Labor Relations Board is scheduled for next week.
Source: NewsWorks
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