Now that the US attorney’s case against City Hall aides Tim Sullivan and Ken Brissette has been broomed from federal court, Mayor Marty Walsh needs to make one thing crystal clear: Requests to hold events on City Hall Plaza or other city properties will not depend in any way on whether the event organizer employs union labor.
The charge in the recently dismissed case was that Sullivan and Brissette had committed extortion by pushing the Boston Calling music festival to hire union workers for its September 2014 event on City Hall Plaza. US District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin said that to prove extortion, the prosecution would have to show that the two had somehow benefited personally from having those union members hired. When prosecutors acknowledged they couldn’t meet that standard, Sorokin tossed the case. The US attorney’s office is considering an appeal.
Whatever happens next, the dismissal of the case shouldn’t open the door for City Hall to try to pressure event organizers to hire union workers for events on city property. As long as a crew has the necessary skills to perform the task at hand in setting up, running, and breaking down an event, City Hall should be neutral about whether or not they use union labor.
Queried on the matter, Laura Oggeri, spokeswoman for Mayor Walsh, noted that the arrangement the city has with Delaware North for managing and running the holiday market and skating rink on the plaza from December through February, as well as some summer programming, doesn’t have any requirement for union labor. Neither does the application for use of the various plaza spots through the city’s Property Management Department.
In a statement, she added that the “city process neither requires nor encourages the use of unions.’’ But Oggeri said Walsh himself wouldn’t have any comment on the matter until the case against Sullivan and Brissette, which may be appealed, is concluded.
That’s overly cautious. The dismissal of this case could leave the impression that it’s now fine for the city to press event organizers to use union labor. And that the skids will be greased if they do. A forceful statement by the mayor would do a lot to clear up any uncertainty.
And that’s important. The administration has, at least episodically, brought City Hall Plaza to life in imaginative ways, helping transform it from a barren windswept brickscape to a venue that regularly attracts passersby.
The city should build on that success. If City Hall Plaza can be successfully programmed in the cold winter months, there’s no reason there can’t be a continuous offering of year-round attractions there. But that will require a sense that City Hall really is open to a wide range of proposals. Walsh should underscore that by stressing that anyone who makes a serious application will receive fair consideration — and that using union labor isn’t an unstated requirement.
