Gov. J.B. Pritzker expects the 2024 Democratic National Convention to be the “biggest ever,” with fundraising efforts to make that goal well underway, he said Tuesday.
Pritzker’s words came as major Chicago unions signed a “labor peace agreement” on Tuesday at McCormick Place, promising not to strike during the convention, which is being held in Chicago.
“We, on day one, started calling the people that we knew would be the most important to making sure that we were reaching out and raising the proper dollars. We are doing very well so far. Having said that, we are going to be doing that for some many months to come, and I’m very, very confident we’ll hit our goal — the necessary goal to put on the best and biggest convention ever,” Pritzker said, speaking at McCormick Place.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter and Mayor Brandon Johnson were among those cheerleading for the city and the labor agreement.
“The labor movement and union workers, and workers in general, are the backbone of our city. And our convention will put that on full display for the entire world to see,” Johnson said. “This labor agreement means we’ll have a union-made convention that will nominate a pro-union president.”
On April 11, the DNC announced that Chicago will host the convention at the United Center Aug. 19-22, 2024, with other events at the McCormick Place complex. The master contract giving Chicago the convention over New York and Atlanta did not include the labor deal because negotiations could not take place until the winning city was announced.
The pact covers the United Center, where President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be nominated for a second term, and the McCormick Place complex. What is new is that for the first time, the no-strike deal will also apply to union workers at the official convention hotels.
“From airports to hotels to the convention floor, union workers are going to make the 2024 DNC the best convention in modern history,” Reiter said.
The deal is between the DNC’s convention committee, the Chicago Host Committee, the Chicago Federation of Labor and these unions: the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees; IBEW Local 134; IUOE Local 399; Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council; Riggers, Machinery Movers & Machinery Erectors Local Union 136; SEIU Local 1; Teamsters Local 727; UNITE HERE Local 1; and United Steelworkers Local 17U Decorators Union.
