<B> McCormick Place, Unions Cut Exhibitor Costs, Hassle</B>
By Deborah Mora
Chicago's McCormick Place and labor union leaders last month finally hammered out agreements that should result in exhibitor savings of at least 5 percent and less red tape over work rule jurisdictions of carpenters and decorators.
Topping the list of major work rule changes in the new contract is the creation of a single workforce consisting of both carpenters and decorators for meetings at McCormick Place and Navy Pier, under the jurisdiction of the Decorators and Carpenters unions. Under this policy, a pool of carpenters and decorators can both set up and decorate a booth, providing quicker and more efficient exhibit construction. This is a departure from current rules that require exhibitors to rely on two separate labor pools to complete work on an exhibit. Frequently, exhibitors complain of long waits for the second crew to finish the booth.
Signed by representatives of the Drapery, Machinery Movers, Carpenters, Teamsters and Electricians unions, along with Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority CEO Jim Reilly, the contract will take effect Jan. 1, 1999.
Other changes include:<ul>
<li>Allowing exhibitors who have booths of 300 square feet or less to do their own decorating and assembly work, excluding operating power tools. Based on a review of the top 20 trade shows at McCormick, nearly 70 percent of exhibitors' booths fall into this category.
<li>Reducing the crew size for larger sign-hanging jobs from four to three.
<li>Allowing an exhibitor's full-time employees to connect computers to printers, networks and phone lines.
<li>Permitting registration companies to set up registration computers in lobby areas for their full-time employees. Other electrical improvements include allowing exhibitors to plug in standard 110-volt equipment and set up and operate a single video camera and/or VCR without an electrician.
<li>Changing overtime policies for decorators, riggers and carpenters, including time-and-a-half pay, instead of double time for work done beyond their eight-hour work day, and straight time pay for the first two hours of work on a Saturday, instead of time-and-a-half.</ul>
Service commitments also are expected to be forthcoming from other convention-industry businesses. A majority of hotels in Chicago agreed to set aside blocks of rooms for conventions and to price convention hotel rooms more competitively. This room priority shift, however, will probably mean fewer rooms will be available for business travelers when a large convention is in town, although hotel officials think otherwise.
"I don't see it as a major problem," said Jerry Lewin, vice president and managing director of the Hyatt Regency Chicago, who was on a hotel task force for hotel room commitments. "All of the hotel contracts have a cut-off period and the rooms will get released if the shows don't pick up all the rooms."
McCormick Place officials also will play a role in cost-cutting improvements by rescinding a recent increase in catering prices and paying half of busing costs for all conventions.
Although union workers will be sacrificing a cut in overtime pay, Michael Fitzgerald, business manager for Local 134, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said, "If this agreement is good for Chicago, it's good for business, it's good for labor."
Christopher Kennedy, chairman of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, predicted the new agreement will bring back organizers of small shows who took their shows to other cities because Chicago was too costly.
Savings aside, J.C. Mahaffey, president and CEO of the Association Forum of Chicagoland, said the important element in the agreement is the more relaxed atmosphere it will create for small exhibitors. The "emotional toll" of calling and waiting for separate labor pools to perform different construction tasks will make show setups less frustrating.
The real test, however, said Kelly Welsh, chairman of the MPEA, will come within the next five years when officials will be able to gauge the impact on bookings.
Within the last month, Reilly said, 62 shows have been booked for the next ten years, with an economic impact of $800 million. Annually, McCormick Place pumps about $4.6 billion into local and surrounding area economies.
For larger shows, exhibitors could see a savings of at least 10 percent. Kennedy said shows with a rental price tag of $9-$12 million per year will see $3-4 million in savings over several years.
McCormick Place will hire an auditor to verify that customers are receiving the savings created by the agreement and to investigate trade show manager and exhibitor complaints. The auditor will file recommendations and an analysis of the contract's impact with Mayor Richard Daley in July.