The sum will be paid by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the city-state agency that owns the convention hall. The authority will pay the Teamsters with funds provided by Freeman and GES, the main private contractors that hire labor at McCormick Place.
In a case from the 2006 Chicago Gay Games, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a group of anti-gay protesters over two complaints they filed, but the court sent a third back to the courts for review. James Deferio, Ryan Murphy and Michael Marcavage—of religious organization Repent America—were arrested July 2006 for refusing to relocate their protests at three Gay Games events. The group sued the City of Chicago, a group of police officers and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), which owns Navy Pier.
A leading voice in Chicago's labor community has criticized Chicago officials for recommending sweeping changes to operations at McCormick Place without input from unions at the convention center.
Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, says interim officials at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, known as McPier, unilaterally and unfairly burdened workers by endorsing legislation that would, among other things, define them as public employees and deny them the right to strike.
"It is disappointing that the MPEA interim board made its recommendations today without input from representatives of the union members at McCormick Place," Gannon said in a statement. Read more...
The daughter of former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones was recently hired for an $84,000 job with Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration, the Current has learned.
In August, Renee L. Rose was hired to work as a legislative coordinator in the office of board secretary Matthew De Leon, says a Stroger spokeswoman.
The position is exempt from oversight assigned by the so-called Shakman Decrees, instituted to counter political hiring, according to the county's hiring monitor. Read more...
Pointing to lost contracts for conventions in Chicago, Republican Illinois comptroller candidate William J. Kelly is calling for the resignation of Juan Ochoa, chief executive of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.
The authority has come under fire recently after several organizations pulled out of negotiations to hold conventions in the city.
