Chicago -- A new five-year contract covering workers who set up exhibit booths at McCormick Place will benefit both exhibitors and show organizers through reduced costs and greater work-rule flexibility, the convention center's management said yesterday.
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), which operates McCormick Place; the center's two major general service contractors, Freeman and GES Exposition Services; and United Steelworkers Local 17 Decorators Union signed the new agreement, which expires on June 30, 2011.
"This contract sends a very powerful message to show organizers and exhibitors that Chicago is committed to making the trade show experience here better than ever," MPEA chief executive Leticia Peralta Davis said yesterday in announcing the agreement.
The contract follows a more exhibitor-friendly contract that the riggers signed in May. Last year, the MPEA, general service contractors and local unions agreed on reforms designed to increase McCormick Place's ability to compete against other major convention centers around the country. Chicago has been losing ground to Las Vegas and Orlando for several years.
Key provisions of the new contract reduce overtime charges. For example, union members will receive pay at time and a half instead of double time for the first eight hours they work on Saturdays. Additionally, the first four hours following the break of a show will be billed at straight time. At the same time, workers will receive wage and benefit increases.
The new agreement also more clearly defines jobs requiring two- and three-person crews, a provision that could help exhibitors reduce the size of crews needed for certain jobs.
Decorator union members are responsible for hanging signs and installing drape, cloth, and tacked fabric panels.