McCormick Place Mulls Making Workers Public Employees

Even as McCormick Place officials push for a fast-track appeal of a court ruling tossing out state-imposed labor changes, they are considering Plan B, which could involve asking the state legislature to make workers public employees. “It’s the only alternative to achieve the same reforms, and in my opinion, we absolutely have to achieve that in order to keep shows in Chicago,” said Jim Reilly, the state-appointed trustee who heads the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency known as McPier that runs the convention complex.

Reilly’s comments come one day after U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman issued a permanent