Carpenters Locked Out Of Pa. Convention Center Since May Seek End To Dispute
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Carpenters who claim they've been locked out of the Pennsylvania Convention Center were back out on the street on Wednesday protesting management's refusal to put them back to work.
The dispute between the Carpenters Union and Pa. Convention Center management has been going on since May and surrounds the deadline for the signing a Customer Service Agreement by the Carpenters and Teamsters.
On Wednesday, picketers were walking and making noise at the Convention Center's Broad and Cherry streets entrance.
Carpenters Union spokesman Marty O'Rourke says the matter is now heading to a September 8th mediation hearing before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.
"Hopefully, the convention center comes there with a reasonable head on their shoulders, because they created this lockout, they created this labor unrest, they created this mess. Because the dispute is over a disputed deadline, of sorts," he explains.
The Carpenters and Teamsters both signed the agreement, but management says they didn't turn it in by the deadline and lost their rights to work in the facility.
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