Comdex postponement will have only slight effect on unions

Alana Roberts

Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

Union leaders say their members will sustain just a minor loss of work because of the cancellation of Comdex 2004.

William Harris, financial secretary-treasurer of Carpenters Local 1780, said he hopes the show's owner MediaLive International is able to reorganize the show quickly.

"I would hope they would repackage it and it goes for this year," Harris said.

He said the union sent between 200 and 250 workers to install booths at Comdex 2003, with another 50 working to build the sets. He said Comdex has a major impact on the Las Vegas economy, but that construction workers will not suffer much by its postponement. "It won't have a large impact on us because the construction market has been extremely busy. The convention industry is simply too robust in conjunction with the huge volume of construction work. We just don't expect a major impact," Harris said. Other unions sending workers to the show are Teamsters Local 631, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357 and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 720. Gary Pitts, the IBEW local's assistant business manager, agreed with Harris and said the impact on the 100 IBEW members who work on Comdex will be minimal. "Whil e the postponement of Comdex this year is unfortunate, both for the affect it will have on the Las Vegas Valley and on the ! International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the overall financial impact to the IBEW and its affiliated entities is minimal as it relates to the total hours of the union's combined entities, " Pitts said in a statement. Pitts said in 2003 IBEW members worked approximately 12,000 hours at Comdex, compared with 400,000 hours within the convention industry.

He added that some IBEW members could be hurt by Comdex's postponement because of a decrease in work during the holiday season. The show is held in November.