So I was up late at night a few months ago reading the latest on Event Solutions Magazines website (www.event-solutions.com).

Up pops the survey question of the day, week, or whatever:

What do you think of Unions today?

There were four responses to the question:

• Unions today are as important as they were 50 years ago.
• Unions have served their purpose, but are no longer needed.
• Unions are a necessary evil.
• Unions drive up event costs unnecessarily and should be abolished.

There is one thing that I notice, and it kinda makes me chuckle. With the exception of the first bullet, there are no good answers for the union folks.

I voted in this survey and you can ask anyone who knows me. I have very strong opinions about the unions and what they are doing to the event industry. I know that this blog post will get me grief from people who are pro union.

But, before I get the grief, here is a fact. I love the union guys........98% of them are hard working diligent folks that have the best interests of their clients in mind as they work, they are saddled with the unions as well. A monkey on their back as well.

I have a problem with the unions and the cities and venues that cave into them.

Honestly, I really do not see what unions do for their members anyway. I have had more than one Union member tell me that they would be better off without the extra money coming out of their paychecks.

Unions were a useful tool back in the day when employees and workers did not have a voice and were abused and mistreated by their employers.

Now, with the advent of the internet, investigative journalism, cell phones and YouTube, word about bad companies spreads really, really fast. Employees have choices; unions are useful when people have little or no choice.

What do unions do for me as an event planner?

Nothing really, except make my life more difficult, more costly and more prone to headaches.

Case in point:

I am at a client event at McCormick Place in Chicago a few weeks ago, my client required a simple sound board, two microphones and a light…. all at 6:30 in the morning. A little additional background…….my client is an expert A/V tech and just needed the equipment brought in and set up (he could have done it himself, just the pesky union rules and all).

Now, at the Renaissance or any number of non-union properties in Chicago, this would have been a simple thing. 

Now, here is how it went down at McCormick Place.

• Place the order, but you really have to work at it.
• At 7:00 am the union A/V has not shown up for the 6:30 call, so you have to pick up the phone and no one answers.
• At 7:05 am they (yes, they) show up, and do not even care that they were late and you get grief when you call them on being late.
• They set up and then, because the union wants to extort money from you, they have to stay all day long (getting paid a sick amount of money) even though the client knows more about the equipment than the union guy(s). In fact, my client gave the union guys some pointers as to avoid his equipment being cooked.

Now, because I am a little bitter and looking out for my client’s money, this scenario ticks me off every time.

I can assemble most tradeshow booths in less time than it takes to bake a cake, but in a union hall, I can not do it. Why I ask? I know my equipment better than anyone else.

Cities like Chicago, New York and to some extent San Francisco wonder why shows are bolting to cities like Orlando...........They are hitting the road to save time, money and to have things done the way that they like in an atmosphere where they feel they are not being taken for a ride.

It just seems that when unions become involved, everything except quality goes up. Cost, time, headache, pain and the number of people required to complete any given task.

In fact, on many occasions I get my equipment back damaged because someone was unsure of how to repack it so they just jam it in the case.

Who do you call when this happens? No one. You take your lumps and grumble about having to go back to McCormick, Moscone or the Javitts Center next month. Because ya gotta pay to play in these great cities.

Another thing I notice, Union management must not have faith in their members; they always seem to send two or three to do the job of one. Maybe the unions are afraid their guys will get lonely.

Just a thought.

Keith