What the Union did to Philly

I really hate unions.

As a fan of the city of Philadelphia, I was thrilled to see that the Real World, the popular MTV show, was coming to Philadelphia. The popularity of the show among 12-30 year olds would be good to boost the perception of the City and of Pennsylvania as a whole. But those hopes were immediatly smashed by the mafia thugs of Teamsters Local 107. From Philly.com But within four days, [the show's producers] had incurred the wrath of the city's unions by hiring a nonunion company to renovate the former Seamen's Church Institute in Old City, where Real World's cast was to live. The series had sidestepped organized labor in 13 previous cities, including union strongholds New York, Chicago, and Boston, without incident. "Every other production company comes in, sits down and bargains," said Tony Frasco, vice president of Teamsters Local 107, whose members drive vehicles and unload trucks. "The unions are not out to gouge anybody, but this is a union town."

Good. Thanks to the Union thugs of Local 107, and Tony Soprano..errr Tony Frasco, no one will be working on this project in Philadelphia.

More dengerously though, this will mostly hurt the bars, clubs, restaurants, and small business which dot Old City and the areas surrounding where The Real World was going to shoot.


Meryl Levitz, head of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., said last month that she expected The Real World to aid in her work with the Knowledge Industry Partnership, a college-student retention initiative.

If MTV chooses a cast that "young people see as similar to them and presents Philadelphia as hip and desirable . . . you can't buy that kind of publicity," she said.

That is sad. Thanks local 107.

Stupid unions.

Posted by psugrad98 at March 16, 2004 11:13 PM