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Carpenters Union On Strike At Pennsylvania Convention Center

By Justin Udo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The carpenters union at the Pennsylvania Convention Center is on strike and on the picket line after contract negotiations with the center's management fell apart.

The Local 8 Carpenters Union went on strike on Thursday afternoon.

Gregory Fox with The Pennsylvania Convention Center authority says the center is in the process of trying to make their venue more lucrative than other major cities.

And in order to do this, they need to restructure their union contracts.

Fox says they have been able to work out deals with all of their unions except the Carpenters Local 8.

"The convention center has been involved on a series of steps to make the center more competitive by way of instituting best practices with respect to our management model, our labor supplier model, our union work rules, the way in which the contractors work in the building bill our customers," he said.

Fox says they have no scheduled talks with the Carpenters Local 8 Union at this time and that negotiations with the union could take a while, but he's hopeful that it will be resolved soon.

Calls to the Carpenters Local 8 Union were not immediately returned.

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