Please recall that two years ago EdisonReport published articles quite critical of union labor at the last Philadelphia show. Most of that anger was around the length of time for booths to be returned after the show
At LIGHTFAIR many companies will try to use as much of their own labor as possible in the assembling and dismantling of their booths. It’s a bit of cat-and-mouse between the unions and exhibitors. For example, if luminaires require wirenuts to be energized, one must use a union electrician. If that same fixture has a pigtail plug installed, no electrician is needed.
Two years ago here in Philadelphia one of our sources was caught cutting carpet using internal labor. One of the more gentle and kinder union guys politely asked, “Hey, WHAT the FX@C are you doing? This week, that same source, caught in a similar act and was approached by Sam, a LIGHTFAIR employee, not a union man. Sam professionally explained the rules and suggested that show labor be used to ensure that the exhibitor was compliant with his contract.
Exhibitor Appointed Contractors, (EAC’s) work tradeshows in various markets and Philadelphia is a tough market for them. For a big show, such as LIGHTFAIR, these EAC’s will bring in their key carpenters and electricians from other markets. These are there existing employees with proven track records. The issue in Philadelphia is the EAC’s are not allowed to send any local temporary Philadelphia labor home, so long as their labor from other cities are still working. It creates a huge conflict as you end up with inexperienced labor finishing the job on Sunday, that the pros started on Friday and Saturday.
Having said that, the eight exhibitors we spoke with this week are happy with the installation labor..
So far so good. Let’s see what happens during teardown.