(DNC 2012) Obama’s Choice of Charlotte a Slap in Face to Organized Labor

[alp227]

In choosing Charlotte, North Carolina to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, President Obama selected a city with no unionized hotels, a non-union convention center, and the least union membership of the four options. Last October, UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm wrote a letter to the Democratic National Committee, stating that Charlotte’s non-union hotels made it an unacceptable choice. Candidate Obama pledged to join UNITE HERE’s picket line at Chicago’s Congress Hotel if elected President – a promise he made no attempt to fulfill – but as President has increasingly courted corporate interests while ignoring labor’s needs. While some attribute Obama’s decision to the importance of North Carolina and neighboring Virginia in the 2012 presidential race, another factor could also be at play. UNITE HERE has been waging the most aggressive union campaign ever against the Hyatt Hotel chain, owned by the Chicago-based Pritzker family. Penny Pritzker was the national finance chair of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. If Obama wanted to ensure ongoing Pritzker and corporate loyalty in 2012, choosing a city opposed by UNITE HERE and that only has non-union hotels sends a powerful message.

Full article: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=8870

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I thought the DNC chose the convention city, not the President?

[alp227]

2. Obama's Organizing for America campaign org is part of the DNC

I don't know how much influence OFA had on this decision, but the point of this opinion article is that Charlotte is a heavily anti-union city and thus an inappropriate place to hold a Dem convention.

[rhett o rick]

3. I doubt they'd go against his wishes. nm

[Robb]

4. This is exactly how it played in 2008 in Denver, too. It's a good thing.

Hoffa Jr. was raising hell as early as March about how union-hostile Colorado was. The result was a higher profile for labor leaders, more labor issues in the news, and frankly a better environment for unions post-convention here.

It ain't all balloons and speeches. :D

On edit: here's an old http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_5579663">Denver Post article from April 2007:

Labor issue could 'blow up'

Teamsters union leader James Hoffa Jr. joined the debate over Denver's selection as host for the Democratic National Convention by confronting Gov. Bill Ritter at a Washington dinner and promising the issue could "blow up" next summer if Colorado doesn't become more labor-friendly.

"We're very upset about it," the International Brotherhood of Teamsters president said of the Democrats' decision to stage their convention at the nonunion Pepsi Center. In an interview Monday, Hoffa also mentioned Ritter's veto of a pro-union law. "All of labor is upset," Hoffa said.

Hoffa said it is "ironic" that the Republicans are planning their convention in heavily unionized Minneapolis-St. Paul. "Maybe we should flip it and let the Republicans come to Denver," he said.

(snip)

It is not unusual for labor to use the leverage a national Democratic convention brings, observers say. At the 2004 convention, national Democrats helped mediate a labor dispute between police and the city of Boston that stopped a picket line and gained the police a new contract and big raise.