It’s SPX season – the Small Press Expo is only a month away, with guests including Carol Tyler, Lisa Hanawalt, Julia Wertz, Derf and many more; great panels; and of course an exhibit room full of small press comics treasures.
The event will be held September 11-12 at the Bethesda North Marriott, as usual. What is not usual is a statement just released by the The SPX Executive Committee regarding a labor action at the venue.
The link lays out the situations in full, but it explains that the Montgomery County Conference Center, which is attached to the Marriott, is actually the owner of the facility, and contracts with the Marriott to run it. The two signed a new operating contract last year, however, that contract did not include a clause to allow collective bargaining. This led to calls for a boycott by UNITE-HERE Local 25, the union which represents local hotel and restaurant workers, and the boycott was elevated to national status by the AFL-CIO.
According to the SPX letter there is no strike or other labor action, so people can stay at the hotel without crossing a picket line. However, SPX cannot participate in the boycott, they write: cancelling their contract with the Marriott would incur a $85,787 cancellation fee that would wipe out their coffers and cause SPX to close permanently.
In addition, there is no comparable venue in the area that could hold the event for a reasonable cost.
We have explored this possibility and relocating would mean a prohibitively large increase of 30% or more in prices for tables, badges, and hotel rooms; which would affect the overall affordability of the show to the SPX Community.
SPX attendees and exhibitors value a commitment to independent creators and labor: in the past there were controversies over the participation of larger companies including Amazon and Nickelodeon. And SPX recognizes that this is a hard decision:
We recognize that some will be disappointed by that decision, but we believe it is important to be honest about the commitments we have already made rather than imply we can take actions that are not realistically available to us.
Our inability to join this particular boycott should not be understood as indifference to the issues at stake. Montgomery County is our home and we wish to see it prosper for those who live and work here every day. We continue to support the rights of workers to organize and to seek fair wages, safe working conditions, and dignity on the job, and we hope the parties are able to reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible.
Getting out in front of potential controversy over this is the right move with this forthright statement, but it also points out the difficult path independent creators and events have to walk. Ethically supporting workers rights gets harder everywhere in a landscape filled with union busting and anti-labor tactics.
It’s also a reminder that SPX has really evolved around the North Bethesda Marriott and and Conference Center as a venue. It’s a versatile place that has its own issues (the inability to expand) but has created the beloved “Camp Comics” atmosphere that makes SPX such a great event.
We join the SPX Executive Committee in hoping that a fair resolution can be reached for all parties. And also, see you in September.
