USA – Illinois governor Pat Quinn, who has hesitated to approve the McCormick Place overhaul legislation, is due to meet with several of Chicago’s major exhibition organisers to discuss the bill.
The legislation in its current form would place Jim Reilly as interim trustee of the venue for the next 18 months, and leave Quinn with no power to name the future chief executives of the agency that runs McCormick Place.
The Chicago Tribune reported Quinn as saying: “There’s been a lot of concern with the convention operation in Illinois and Chicago, in particular, with groups and individuals who may have unduly benefitted from the arrangements that existed. We need to squeak that out and have a clean break with the past.”
The bill would also expand exhibitors’ rights to set up their own booths, cut union crew sizes and overtime billings.
