Center of attention:
America’s Center
The St. Louis Convention and
Visitors Commission is pushing three local audiovisual
unions to accept new work policies that CVC leaders hope will cut
labor costs for convention clients and make the city more
attractive
to groups.
The confrontation is part of a larger
strategy by Kathleen Ratcliffe, president of the CVC, to breathe
new life into the city’s struggling convention business.
“There are some decades-old practices
[the unions] follow that we feel need to be changed to keep us
competitive in the marketplace,” Ratcliffe said. “As a result, we
are working with those unions to streamline the work rules.”
Ratcliffe would most like to eliminate
“shadowing,” the practice of hiring a union member to monitor the
work of nonunion laborers at America’s Center, the city’s
convention center complex.
William Watkins, business
representative for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees, Local 143 in St. Louis, declined to comment on
negotiations, saying only that the talks have been productive. He
added that while the union wants to improve the customer
experience, too, it also wants to maintain standards and benefits
its workers have earned over the years. At press time, no
resolution had been reached.
Since Ratcliffe took the helm at the
CVC in May 2006, she has revamped the organization by changing the
process for bookings; restructuring incentives and sales goals;
adding a new corporate meetings sales team; assigning agents to
state association and group tour markets; and expanding the
bureau’s Washington, D.C., sales office.
The changes have paid off. The number
of hotel room nights booked for meetings during the fiscal year
that ended June 30 reached 523,406, roughly a 20 percent increase
over the previous five-year average. It was the first time room
nights broke the half-million mark since before Sept. 11, 2001.
In addition, following the advice of
the CVC’s National Customer Advisory Board, a facelift of America’s
Center began in April and will be completed in December. The CVC
also has hired Brian Hall as chief marketing officer to supervise a
redesign of the CVC’s website and the launch of a new brand
initiative.
The city is in the midst of a major
rebuilding effort that includes construction of a $430 million
casino resort, Lumiere Place, and the multimillion-dollar
redevelopment of the area adjacent to the convention center, known
as the Bottle District. Total investment in the city could top $5
billion.
Last year, St. Louis won the urban
renewal award from the World Leadership Forum, a U.K.-based
nonprofit organization.