Taking A Local Labor Dispute National, Philadelphia Carpenters Ask Democrats To Snub The Convention Center
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Philadelphia's Carpenters union is trying to leverage the 2016 Democratic National Convention to get back jobs at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. They've launched a campaign, by mail, to party leaders across the country.
The letter, signed by union president Ed Coryell, begins with a thank you - for picking Philadelphia as the host city - and a welcome.
Then, the request - don't schedule any events at the Convention Center, because, it reads, "the Center is engaging in unfair labor practices by locking out members..."
"The goal is to establish a message," Carpenters spokesman Martin O'Rourke says.
O'Rourke says the letters went to the chairmen of all 50 democratic state committees last Thursday, but that was just the beginning.
"Over the course of the next few weeks, Democratic members of the U.S. House and Democratic Senators will be receiving these letters as well as Democratic officials throughout the country."
The Convention Center says the Carpenters lost their jobs because they failed to sign a new customer service agreement by the deadline. The union disputes what the deadline actually was.
Democratic National Convention officials had no comment.