Chicago convention losses mount. Solution? A contract!
Several months ago the IEA ended years of annual convention business with the Hyatt Rosemont O’Hare. Following a personal letter from the leadership of Unite Here to IEA President Ken Swanson, the IEA pulled the 1,000 delegate Representative Assembly from that location.
Unite Here has been without a Chicago contract since 2009.
Other large meetings have also left Chicago for the same reason.
The American Sociological Association just decided to relocate their meeting next August out of Chicago because of the failure of Chicago hotels to come to an agreement with their employees.
Sally T. Hillsman, Executive Officer of the American Sociological Association told her members,
The contracts between Chicago union hotels and UNITE HERE expired August 31, 2009. Since that time, there have been 11 bargaining sessions but contract negotiations are stalled. We have waited as long as possible to see if the contract situation would be resolved in deference to the importance of Chicago as a venue to the 2011 program. Without any resolution clearly in sight, the ASA Council voted unanimously to move the meeting from Chicago because ASA cannot guarantee that the facilities and environment necessary for our scholarly deliberations will be available.
The July Representative Assembly of the NEA, with over 10,000 members and staff attending is also scheduled for Chicago. The loss of the NEA RA would be a huge financial blow to the Chicago economy.
