Top client moves meeting from The Greenbrier again over labor dispute

By Christian Giggenbach

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — A protracted labor dispute has again resulted in another million-dollar loss for the sagging bottom line at The Greenbrier as its largest client announced Friday the cancellation of a 2009 group meeting due to the “ongoing labor strife and uncertainty about the West Virginia resort’s future.”

Ken A. Crerar, president of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, personally delivered the bad news to resort president Andrew Fogarty and two other top Greenbrier executives, Michael Gordon and Jerry Wayne, on Thursday.

On Friday, Crerar’s office issued a news release about the cancellation of its 96th annual Leadership Forum, held each October, which attracts more than 1,500 attendees from leading commercial agencies, brokerages and major insurance carriers. The meeting has now been planned for The Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Crerar previously told The Register-Herald that his group spent millions of dollars each year with the resort and had held the annual conference at The Greenbrier for 94 years. Crerar also canceled the 2008 conference after a much-publicized effort to bring both management and labor officials to the table to hammer out an agreement.

“The decision to move the conference to The Broadmoor was not made lightly,” Crerar said. “It had been our sincere hope that The Greenbrier management and labor unions would reach an accord so the ILF could return to the place where the conference began back in 1913 and where every one of those meetings had been held until last year.

“We worked hard to bring the two sides together, but our efforts have not been successful. Basically, there has been no progress since June, and we simply cannot wait any longer for the resort management and the unions to break their stalemate.”

Three other major insurance council meetings normally held at the four-star resort have been canceled due to the dispute.

The dispute involving more than 1,100 employees has been bogged down the last 13 months over health insurance premiums, pension plans and a multitude of other issues. Several major conference groups have canceled their meetings at the resort due to the dispute.

In an effort to boost overnight guests, The Greenbrier has lowered some room rates and recently promoted one free night’s stay if patrons paid for three nights.

Lynn Swann, The Greenbrier’s public relations director, described the cancellation as “disappointing.”

“We are disappointed that the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers has decided to move their October 2009 meeting, but understand their situation,” she said Friday.

Swann would not reveal if any other groups had canceled for 2009, saying information regarding group meetings is considered “sensitive” and not released to media.

In June, Gov. Joe Manchin helped broker a no strike, no lockout agreement between both sides, which at the time had been seen as a path to a successful agreement.

Since then, little has been accomplished at the bargaining table, despite two proposals by union officials to freeze wages for three years and a proposal by the union to cut insurance premiums by $13.5 million over the life of the five-year contract.

“We continue to be hopeful that both sides can come together to reach an agreement to solve this dispute for once and for all,” Manchin said Friday.

More talks have been scheduled for late November.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com