Denver labor leaders won't oppose bid - updated

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In a sign that there may be a path to a compromise, Denver union leaders will not oppose Denver's bid to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

Labor issues in the city have focused on hotels, and particularly the new, city-bonded Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. None of Denver’s hotels are union, and some Democratic delegations say they must stay in union hotels.
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Still, officials with Denver’s host committee now can say that labor is not formally opposing the bid as they make their case to national Democrats. Denver Area Labor Federation president Leslie Moody confirmed Thursday that the group voted unanimously to “lay over” a previous resolution opposing the bid.

While that is better than before, it may not be the kind of support delegations are looking for. What is more, Moody said, the resolution could be reinstated at any monthly meeting. “People were uncomfortable rescinding it completely,” Moody said, citing concerns about how the actual convention would be staffed. But she said, “There is a big difference between opposition and neutrality.”

Sounds like it was a lively meeting.

Host committee officials said last week that landing the 2008 convention would be unlikely unless the city had at least one hotel with organized labor. The labor federation passed a resolution this year opposing Denver’s bid unless the convention center Hyatt was organized.

Moody said workers at the Hyatt are working toward a union but they have been slowed because of high turnover. Still, she praised Denver host committee executive director Debbie Willhite and Mayor John Hickenlooper for working with labor groups.

A meeting with Willhite on Tuesday was positive and productive, Moody said. “We are doing out part to resolve whatever issues were keeping labor from supporting this,” Moody said.

Willhite said labor’s vote is “a step in the right direction.” “I think it’s very encouraging,” she said.

I think the key thing is that Hickenlooper and Willhite are meeting with the labor groups to dicuss their concerns, rather than criticize them through the media, which has happened in the past. But the issue of whether the convention can be held in a city with no union hotels remains to be seen. Some have brought up Atlanta in 1988 as an example of a city with no union hotels, but NY Times accounts at the time indicate there were a few union hotels, and so I don't think the comparison is valid.

Update: More comments from Wilhite:

"We’re in a period of working together to clarify different parts of the bid that some members had questions about," she said. "We’re working carefully together to see if we can reach some cooperation so that they can support our bid."

Willhite said there are sections of the bid that "needed clarification and some amending," though she declined to go into specifics. "You don’t negotiate in public," she said. "This isn’t a Texas hold’em."

Denver, which hosted its only national political convention in 1908, is the only city vying for the party convention without a union hotel. "Is it possible for us to get the convention without labor support? It’s possible," Willhite said. "Everything’s possible, but it would not be ideal," she said. "It’s not the way we want to go forward in this process, and it certainly makes our proposal weaker without their support."