CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The Democratic National Convention will spend millions preparing Time Warner Cable Arena for the convention, but some fear local construction firms will be shut out of the process.
DNC organizers say they want to give preference to local applicants as they start whipping Charlotte into shape over the next year.
First up, a multi-million dollar facelift for Time Warner Cable Arena.
If local workers score the job, I'll be a real lift to our sagging construction industry.
"Certainly, we're here in Charlotte North Carolina, and it's important for us to maximize the number of dollars we can spend here in the community," says DNCC Chief Operating Officer Theo LeCompte.
LeCompte says other factors, though, will also be important.
"We're looking to maximize our use of local businesses, minority owned businesses, women-owned business and to use union labor as well," he says.
And viewers have been writing us with concern over the union issue.
One email reads, "North Carolina being a right to work state, it is my understanding most of the jobs for the DNC Convention will go to union workers outside of the state."
We brought that concern to LeCompte.
"Our requirement to maximize the use of union labor doesn't exclude anybody," he said.
But the fact is, North Carolina isn't exactly known as a big union state. Carolinas AGC is a construction trade association based in Raleigh, we talked to spokesman Dave Simpson today.
"In North Carolina, there's just not much union activity in the construction industry," Simpson said. "As a result, they will probably be hard pressed to find companies that are unionized."
