McCormick Place Unions Agree to Work Changes

Several unions have agreed to work-rule changes at Chicago's McCormick Place to help make the facility a friendlier and cheaper place for companies to hold trade shows, according to Businessweek. Under the agreement, exhibitors will be allowed to use their own ladders and tools, and load and unload their vehicles -- jobs that previously would have been handled by union workers. The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and Teamsters Local 727 also agreed to reduce the size of union work crews from three- to two-person crews and to lengthen the amount of time during a workday in which union workers are paid straight time.