Local concern over union strife, 2016 DNC

A major concern of Philadelphia Convention Center Authority (PCCA) officials in its lawsuit against the Metropolitan Regional Council of Carpenters is the possibility of lost bookings with the 2016 Democratic National Convention to be held in the city.

A complaint against the Carpenters union details a letter writing campaign initiated by top union official Ed Coryell Sr. In April 2015, after the Democratic National Committee announced its intention to hold the nomination event for the 2016 presidential election in Philadelphia, Coryell sent letters to national and local DNC officials and urged them not to do business with the authority.

“The defendants’ recent letter-writing campaign has already had its desired effect of inflicting economic damage on the PCCA in the form of lost bookings,” the complaint stated. “On April 12, 2015, the Chester County Democratic Committee advised the PCCA that, in response to defendant Coryell Sr.’s letter, it would not host or attend any event held at the convention center during the Democratic National Convention.”

PCCA spokesman Pete Peterson said Coryell’s letters are part of a larger pattern of alleged intimidation initiated by the union. The authority’s lawsuit alleges the carpenters have carried out a “prolonged and malicious pattern of illegal and extortionate conduct” in violation of the federal racketeering and Hobbs Act laws.

A request for comment from the union was not immediately returned.

The complaint states that the convention center is seeking the court’s protection against “multiple violent and intimidating acts” to which the defendants have subjected the PCCA, its employees, affiliates and exhibitors for over a year.

The complaint lists union leader Coryell, his son Edward Coryell Jr., J.R. Hocker, Richard Rivera, Ronald Curran, Kenyatta Bundy and Richard Washlick. The Convention Center Authority stated in the complaint that it was not bringing the litigation against Coryell in his capacity as a member of the PCCA board of directors but in his capacity as a union employee. The authority is seeking $1 million in damages allegedly caused by union members during the recent Philadelphia Auto Show. The complaint alleges union members removed vehicle engine covers, stole gas caps and caused other damages during the show.

The legal showdown started in May 2014 when, according to the complaint, Coryell refused to sign off on a customer satisfaction agreement that four other unions chose to adhere to. The agreement was supposed to increase bookings, business, and jobs and improve overall customer satisfaction. The Convention Center Authority was informed that if they declined the agreement, there would be no more work at the center.

The customer satisfaction agreement, or CSA, was a 10-year agreement meant to govern the performance of labor at the center and was a right of entry contract. Contractors, customers, unions and exhibitors were all required to comply. In May 2014, the original 2003 agreement had expired and a revised document was drawn up. As with the previous agreement, there was a 48-hour deadline for the unions to sign off.

“Despite these warnings, at a PCCA Board meeting Coryell declared that MRCC would never sign the customer service agreement, that he was adamantly opposed to it and threatened that there would never be peace at the Convention Center if PCCA chose to implement that agreement,” the complaint stated. “The threat was not long in being realized.”

The Carpenters union didn’t sign off on the agreement and the Authority passed its share of work assignments to other workers within the convention center. Allegedly the union chose to retaliate and force the PCCA to knuckle under. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 98, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers all agreed to the document.

“Publicly embarrassed and privately humiliated at having led their rank and file down such a disastrous path, the leadership of MRCC hatched a scheme to force the PCCA to abandon the agreement and surrender work performed by others back over to the union,” the complaint stated. “Through a campaign of illegal violence and intimidation aimed at the PCCA and others associated with the convention center, including customers, exhibitors, vendors and contractors and members of other unions.”

Allegedly, Carpenters union members engaged in illegal and disruptive picketing, physical intimidation, harassment, race baiting, threats and overt destruction of property. The same day Coryell allegedly declared his opposition to the CSA, the car belonging to a member of the PCCA’s management team was vandalized while parked at the center.

Source: Philly Tribune