The First Event of Its Kind.
Managed Digitally. Flawlessly.
Labor coordination at this scale had never been done digitally — until the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. As the exclusive labor contractor, manager, and LPA signatory, Labor Boss united a dozen unions and hundreds of workers on one platform, delivering a seamless, confrontation-free event where everyone won: the unions, the Obama Presidential Center, and the city of Chicago.
THE CHALLENGE
A once-in-a-generation event with no room for error
The opening of the Obama Presidential Center wasn’t just another event — it was a historic moment on the world stage, on Chicago’s South Side, with every detail under a spotlight.
Behind the scenes, that meant coordinating a dozen unions and hundreds of workers across overlapping projects, schedules, and trades. Anyone who’s worked a major event knows the risk: jurisdiction disputes, who does what work, under which contract, at what rate — get it wrong and you get grievances, stoppages, and blown budgets.
At this scale, traditional labor coordination breaks down — paper schedules, phone-tree dispatch, and handshake jurisdiction calls simply can’t keep up. Nothing of this scope had ever been managed digitally before. The Center’s opening demanded something that didn’t yet exist.
So we built it.
SNAPSHOT
Project: Opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Chicago
Client: Obama Presidential Center
Agency Partner: Agency EA
Role: Exclusive labor contractor, manager & signatory for the LPA
Partners: 12 Chicago Labor Unions
Workforce: Hundreds of union workers
Platform: Labor Boss 2.0
First: The largest event labor coordination ever executed fully digitally
Result: Zero jurisdiction disputes. Seamless execution. A repeatable framework for events of this scale.
THE SOLUTION
One partner. One platform. Every union on the same page.
As the exclusive labor contractor, manager, and signatory for the Labor Peace Agreement, Labor Boss became the single point of accountability for the entire event workforce. Selected by the Agency EA and working in close partnership with Obama Presidential Center, we were entrusted with the labor behind one of the most significant openings in the country.
Every contract rule was followed exactly. A dozen unions that had never operated on a shared system worked side by side, in sync, from day one.
Labor Boss 2.0: put to the ultimate test on day one
There’s no gentler way to say it: we put our new platform to the test on one of the most-watched events in the country — and it performed flawlessly. Labor Boss 2.0 digitized what had always been done by phone, paper, and gut feel:
- Simplify — one contractor, one contact, one guaranteed scope of work across dozens of unions
- Streamline — real-time scheduling, dispatch, and management for hundreds of workers across simultaneous projects
- Standardize — every jurisdiction mapped to the union contract, automatically, with full transparency for every union, worker, and stakeholder
No confusion. No confrontation. No surprises. Just a single source of truth everyone could see and trust.
Oh, and we settled the show within 48 hours of completion.
THE RESULTS
Everyone won.
And now there’s a blueprint.
- Zero jurisdiction disputes across the entire event
- Hundreds of workers coordinated seamlessly on one platform
- Thousands of work assignments calculated in real time
- 100% union contract compliance
- Verified union payroll work rules
- A first-of-its-kind digital framework — the model for major events going forward
When the doors opened, the world saw a flawless event. But the real story is who won behind the scenes — everyone:
- The unions got clear jurisdictions, full contract compliance, and every hour of work their members were entitled to — with zero grievances.
- The workers got seamless schedules, transparent assignments, and the pride of opening a landmark.
- The city of Chicago got a world-class opening on its South Side, powered entirely by its own union labor, without a single dispute making headlines.
- The industry got proof that events of this magnitude can be coordinated digitally — because now it’s been done.
A framework for what comes next
The Obama Presidential Center opening wasn’t a one-off. It established a repeatable, proven framework for digitally managing union labor at any scale: jurisdictions determined up front, every contract encoded in the platform, and full transparency for every party. The next event of this size won’t have to reinvent anything. The playbook exists — and we wrote it.
Grateful to everyone who made history with us
Thank you to Agency EA for the opportunity and trust to serve as the exclusive labor contractor for this once-in-a-generation opening, and to the Obama Presidential Center for being an exceptional partner from planning through execution. Alongside the dozens of unions, hundreds of workers, and the City of Chicago, you made this success possible. Thank you to everyone involved in this history-making project!
