Teamsters return to Convention Center

Two years ago, as the clock ticked past midnight from May 10 into May 11, something momentous happened in the history of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The carpenters' union, which had been the main labor union doing most of the work at the Convention Center, no longer had the right to work in the building.

Since then, much has happened.

Bookings are up at the center, after years of decline.

And some conflict has subsided. The Teamsters, which also lost jurisdiction with the carpenters two years ago, are back in the building.

Last month, the Teamsters dropped charges that they had filed with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

"It's going very well," said Gregory Fox, chairman of the Convention Center Authority board, which presided over the carpenters' ouster and the hiring of SMG, of West Conshohocken, which specializes in convention center management.

"The board is very pleased that the effort it made to introduce a new service delivery model has been met with such enthusiasm by our customer base," he said. "The atmosphere in the building is very positive."

A new customer satisfaction agreement, signed in May 2014, allowed exhibitors to do more work themselves, cut down on expensive supervisor hours, and shifted costs to unions with lower hourly rates.

Edward J. Coryell, who led a huge organization of union carpenters stretching from Virginia throughout most of Pennsylvania, has been ousted - forced into retirement by the national leadership of the carpenters' union.

Years of regular picketing and lobbying by the carpenters failed to yield enough pressure, political or otherwise, to return the union to the building.

The Convention Center Authority filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the carpenters' union. That suit still is pending.

The carpenters' union filed unfair labor practice charges against the Convention Center with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. That case also is pending.

"For 20 years we were telling our customers that things were going to improve at the Convention Center," said Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association.

"Now we need to work hard to win back their trust," he said.

Symbolic of the change is the American Academy of Neurology's decision to return to Philadelphia for its 2019 show.

On May 1, 2014, 12,000 neurologists were in town when the carpenters' union staged a walkout during negotiations over the new customer service agreement.

Neither the carpenters or Teamsters signed by the May 5, 2014, deadline imposed by management. Both wound up signing it a few days later.

Even so, when their collective-bargaining agreement expired on May 10, 2014, they were out.

The carpenters took a big hit, losing 167,879 annual hours of work. Their work was redistributed to other unions that had signed the customer satisfaction agreement.

Meanwhile, the neurologists' group, annoyed by the work stoppage, told officials from the Philadelphia Convention Visitors Bureau that they were canceling plans to hold their 2019 convention at the center.

"When they were leaving here, they told us they were absolutely not returning to Philadelphia," said Julie Coker Graham, who leads the bureau.

Now, she said, this organization and many others have decided to come back, convinced by the hospitality industry's increased "willingness to work together as a team" with the center's unions, the bureau and the center's management.

It's big business.

In 2014, the 12,000 who attended spent 35,551 nights in hotel rooms and generated $33 million for the city, and 2019's show should be larger, the bureau estimated.

The Academy's chief executive, Catherine Rydell, said the convention is the world's largest gathering of neurologists.

And, she said, in 2019, the Academy "is looking forward to . . . meeting . . . in the beautiful and welcoming city of Philadelphia."

jvonbergen@phillynews.com

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@JaneVonBergen

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