Local 727, International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority

784 F. Supp. 2d 1008, 190 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3485, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35267, 2011 WL 1225892
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 31, 2011
Docket10 C 3484, 10 C 3372 (related)
StatusPublished

This text of 784 F. Supp. 2d 1008 (Local 727, International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Local 727, International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, 784 F. Supp. 2d 1008, 190 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3485, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35267, 2011 WL 1225892 (N.D. Ill. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

RONALD A. GUZMAN, District Judge.

Local 727, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“Local 727”) and Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters (“Carpenters”) have sued defendants Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and its Trustee, James Reilly, alleging that recent amendments to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Act, 70 111. Comp. Stat. 210/5.4, are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act or otherwise violate federal and state law. The parties to each suit have filed cross-motions for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 56. For the reasons set forth below, the Court: (1) grants in part, denies in part and strikes as moot in part both plaintiffs and defen *1010 dants’ motions in the Local 727 suit; and (2) grants in part and strikes as moot in part plaintiffs motion and denies in part and strikes as moot in part defendants’ motion in the Carpenters’ suit.

Facts

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (“MPEA”) is a unit of local government created to promote business, commerce and tourism in Illinois. 210 Ill.Comp. Stat. 210/3; (Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶¶ 6-7; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 1.) Defendant Reilly is its Trustee. (Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶ 4; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 46.) The MPEA owns and operates McCormick Place, a convention center in Chicago that was built and renovated with state bond money and is used primarily for trade shows. 70 Ill. Comp. Stat. 210/5.4(a)(6); (Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶¶ 7-8; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 1.)

There are a number of players in the trade show business — MPEA, the trade show manager (“show manager”), the trade show contractors (“show contractors”), the trade show exhibitors' (“exhibitors”), the exhibitor-appointed contractors (“EACs”) and the unions — some of whom have little, if any, interaction with the others. (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. D, Mem. from Reilly to Jt. Comm. MPEA of 3/23/10 [“3/23/10 Mem.”] at 4; Defs.’ Resp. Local 727’s Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. B4, 4/28/10 MPEA Legislative Analysis C.H. Johnson Consulting, Inc. at 1-3; id., Ex. D1, Chicago Convention Crisis: A Vacuum of Leadership in the Hospitality Industry, UNITE HERE Local 1; Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶¶ 8-11, 24; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶ 3-4, 7-8.) The MPEA leases facility space to the show manager and provides food, parking and utility services to the show manager and exhibitors. (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. D, 3/23/10 Mem. at 4; Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶¶ 7-8; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶ 3, 7.) The show manager subleases the space to the exhibitors and hires a show contractor to move the exhibitors’ materials into and around the facility and to set up and dismantle the exhibitors’ booths and the common elements of the show. (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. D, 3/23/10 Mem. at 4; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶ 3, 7; Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶¶ 8-9.) The exhibitors supervise the show contractor’s construction of their booths or hire an EAC to do so. (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. D, 3/23/10 Mem. at 4; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 8; Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶¶ 9, 11.) The show contractors and EACs hire plaintiffs and other unions to do the work. (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. D, 3/23/10 Mem. at 4; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 4; Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶ 10.)

Trade show work at MPEA is governed by a number of contracts: (1) a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) between Local 727 and the show contractors/EACs (“Trade Show Agreement”); (2) a CBA between Carpenters and the show contraetors/EACs (“Area Agreement”); (3) a CBA between Local 727 and MPEA governing MPEA’s receiving clerks and assistant supervisors (“Local 727-MPEA CBA”); and (4) an agreement between MPEA, Carpenters and the show contractors that, in essence, modifies certain wage and work jurisdiction terms of the Area Agreement (“Side Letter Agreement”). (See Local 727 LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts, Ex. B, Trade Show Agreement; id., Ex. A, Agreement Between MPEA & Local 714; *1011 id., Ex. C, 3/9/09 Letter of Understanding; Carpenters’ Mem. Supp. Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. C, Area Agreement; id., Ex. B, McLaughlin Decl. ¶¶ 1-5; id., Ex. D, 6/1/08 Side Letter Agreement; id., Ex. E, 12/21/00 Labor Agreement for MPEA; Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶4-6, 8; Defs.’ Resp. Carpenters’ LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts ¶ 10; Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts [Carpenters] ¶ 8.)

Historically, the MPEA has serviced its debt and funded its operations with tax revenue generated by the trade shows held at its facilities. See 70 Ill. Comp. Stat. 210/5.4(a)(7). In recent years, however, that revenue has fallen sharply, forcing MPEA to use general tax funds to pay its debt and to raise the prices of its services to generate operating funds. See id. 210/5.4(a)(8); (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. B, 4/29/10 MPEA Interim Bd. Report [“Board Report”] § 3.)

In late 2009:(1) the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, whose trade show at McCormick Place generated $50 million in local spending annually, decided to hold its 2012 show in Las Vegas; (2) the Society of Plastics Industry Inc., whose previous trade shows at McCormick Place had generated $95.3 million in revenue, decided to hold its 2012 and 2015 shows in Orlando; (3) the International Dairy Foods Association said its 2010 show would be held in Dallas, not Chicago; and (4) the National Restaurant Association, which generates $106 million in revenues annually, and the International Home and Housewares Show, which generates about $75 million in revenues, announced that they were considering moving their shows from Chicago. (Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶ 14-18, 32-33; Carpenters’ Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶ 30-32; Local 727’s LR 56.1(a) Stmt. Facts, Ex. Z & Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. B, Board Report § 2.) The primary complaints of these groups and others who have held trade shows at McCormick Place are that the costs of union labor and MPEA’s services are too high. (Defs.’ Mem. Resp. Carpenters’ Mot. Prelim. Inj., Ex. B, Board Report §§ 3, 5; id., Ex. D, 4/1/10 Jt. Comm. MPEA at 11-13, 20-25 (testimony of National Restaurant Association, International Housewares Association, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Graphic Arts Show Company); Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶¶ 32-33.)

In response, the Illinois Legislature created the MPEA Interim Board of Directors and (“Board”) and directed it to develop recommendations for improving MPEA’s operations. (Local 727’s Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 23; Carpenters’ Resp. Defs.’ Stmt. Add’l Facts ¶ 39.) 1

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784 F. Supp. 2d 1008, 190 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3485, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35267, 2011 WL 1225892, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/local-727-international-brotherhood-of-teamsters-v-metropolitan-pier-ilnd-2011.