One highlight of the 2008 Democratic National Convention may be watching the Democrats hire scabs.
Last week, Democrats swept aside objections from a simmering group of unionized stagehands, choosing the Pepsi Center as the venue for their Aug. 25-28, 2008, gala. National union officials have assured Democrats that the stagehands’ issues with the Pepsi Center can be resolved over the next 19 months. But how?
Jim Taylor, who heads the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local No. 7, wants the Pepsi Center to consider union stagehands.
Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke, who is married to a Wal-Mart heiress and gave $25,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee last year, should be laughing at Taylor now that the Democrats have committed to his arena.
Taylor wants the DNC to move its event to the Colorado Convention Center – a request Democrats were seriously considering as recently as last week.
“The DNC flew in on Sunday and looked at (the convention center) on Monday,” said Richard Scharf, president of the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. “They said,’You know what, it’s just not going to work.”‘
The DNC requires a venue with an unobstructed view for 18,000 people. The Pepsi Center is the only indoor venue in town that can provide that. You would think the stagehands would know this.
Additionally, there was no other city on the Democrats’ short list after New York’s Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg all but shooed them away. So on Thursday, the Democrats unveiled what had become their only choice: an arena that shuns union stagehands and is owned by a GOP supporter.
The DNC has pledged to use all union labor during its convention – but given Taylor’s position, this may now prove a tough promise to keep. Why would local union stagehands work in the Pepsi Center for the few days the Democrats are in town, only to return to their exile once the Democrats leave?
Union stagehands used to work in the city’s McNichols Arena, but they’ve been shut out since 1999 when the mostly privately funded Pepsi Center replaced McNichols. Taylor and his group have wanted this work back ever since, and Denver’s bid for the DNC convention was their one big shot at getting big shots like DNC chairman Howard Dean to help them.
Denver Area Labor Federation president Leslie Moody says this issue can be resolved before August 2008. “This community is interested in this convention running smoothly,” she said.
But the stagehands’ issues are tiny compared with the perceived benefits of the Democrats coming to Denver. Even other union leaders have said they are excited about the work it will mean.
The convention will bring 35,000 people to town, with an estimated economic impact of about $160 million, or about the same benefit Boston received from the DNC in 2004, Scharf said.
It’s impossible to quantify many other benefits the national spotlight will bring to Colorado. Many companies that have located in Colorado over the past few decades did so because one of their executives came here for a convention or vacation, said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Imagine what the convention will do for the political careers of Gov. Bill Ritter, once a mere prosecutor, and Mayor John Hickenlooper, once a humble geologist turned restaurateur.
Against this backdrop, the stagehands are a minor annoyance. The DNC is used to waiting until the last moment to solve these sorts of problems, anyway. In Boston, for example, they had lingering issues with union police officers.
In Denver, the DNC still faces protests from Taylor’s group. Taylor seems like the kind of guy who won’t back down. He reportedly wouldn’t even return phone calls from U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., to discuss this issue before Denver won the bid.
If Taylor doesn’t back down, the union stagehands he represents may not be working in the Pepsi Center in August 2008. And the DNC may have no choice but to hire stagehands somewhere else. Perhaps even scabs.
All this talk of a new Democratic Party – it seems to be coming true.
Al Lewis’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to Lewis at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-954-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.
