Aramark and union urged to end fight

Local defends tactics cited in convention chief's letter

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority is urging a local union to push for a quick resolution in its dispute with Aramark Corp., alleging the union is harassing organizations that plan to hold events at its two centers.

As part of its call for a boycott of Aramark, which provides food and beverage services at the MCCA's Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, UNITE HERE, Local 26, has been contacting conventioneers, according to the MCCA and some organizations that have scheduled events at the sites.

This month, MCCA executive director James E. Rooney sent letters to Aramark and the union, asking the groups to work together to reach agreement on a labor contract. In the letter to the union, he admonished Local 26's "intimidation strategy."

"They're targeting every event big and small that is booked into the convention centers - the Hynes and BCEC - until the end of the year," Rooney said. "I'm sure the union would describe it as giving information, but our clients are reporting using words like 'bullying' and 'intimidating' and 'threatening.' Clearly for us, that crosses the line."

The union, which represents more than 300 workers in the Boston area, didn't confirm whether it has contacted organizations holding future conventions at the MCCA venues, but fired a letter back to Rooney, saying it has not intimidated any group or organization.

"The Union has only engaged in free-speech activity away from the Hynes and BCEC," Janice Loux, president of Local 26, said in the letter. "You cannot strip the Union of its federal right to publicize the dispute by calling it 'intimidation.' "

Since September 2007, the union has been involved in bitter contract negotiations over healthcare, retirement benefits, and other issues with Aramark, which has had a contract with the MCCA since 1997. In July, the National Labor Relations Board filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Aramark, charging intimidation and firing of employees for union activity. And later that month, the MCCA notified Aramark it would look for another concessions vendor, saying it has been concerned with the quality of the service since 2005. The contract, worth $27 million for the fiscal year, ended June 30.

"All our members want is a decent standard of living that was promised by Jim Rooney and the MCCA when the convention center was built," said Loux in a statement yesterday.

In Rooney's letter to the union, he accuses Local 26 of intimidating several organizations to further its cause. Many of those groups, he says, have contacted him about the union's tactics.

One of those organizations, the US Green Building Council, is expecting 30,000 people to attend its annual green building conference and expo at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in November. Rooney said the union contacted the conference's keynote speaker, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, and as a result he is "considering whether or not he'll come."

Taryn Holowka, a council spokeswoman, said the union did approach the council a couple of weeks ago, and the council has been in contact with Aramark, the MCCA, and the union since then. But she said the council had not heard from Tutu and wasn't sure if he'd been contacted directly by the union.

"We're just trying to figure out what's going to work for everyone involved," Holowka said, adding that the organization is not considering backing out.

Rosie's Place, a community center for poor and battered women in Boston, which is hosting an event at the Hynes on Oct. 16, also said it has been contacted by the union. Center officials had a "pleasant meeting" with union workers, who explained what they are protesting, said Sue Marsh, executive director of Rosie's Place.

"We are philosophically understanding and sympathetic of their plight," Marsh said.

"We're trying to figure out a way where we can be supportive of the union's aims and still be able to have a fund-raiser that raises money for poor and homeless women."

Elizabeth Campbell can be reached at ecampbell@globe.com.