Small Press Expo gives an Update on the Union Boycott of the Montgomery County Conference Center

Small Press Expo has sent an email regarding a Union issue concerning the Montgomery County Conference Center, where SPX is held every year.

In the spring of 2025, Montgomery County and the Marriott signed a contract to continue their operating agreement (Montgomery County owns the Conference Center and Marriott manages the facility). That new contract did not include a clause to allow collective bargaining. UNITE HERE Local 25, the union of hotel, restaurant, and casino workers in the DC area, has been seeking to unionize it for a year.

The Montgomery County Council approved a bill in September 2025 that would require any hotel or conference center supported by county funding to enter into labor peace agreements with employee unions and other labor organizations if they receive the county’s financial backing. That legislation doesn’t apply to the Conference Center SPX takes place in as there’s a 10-year contract with Marriot regarding its use which won’t end until December 31, 2034. The legislation would impact it after. Though, there’s hope that it might affect it before that date.

Due to the lack of a fair union organizing process UNITE-HERE Local 25 called for a boycott to protest the omission of the collective bargaining clause in the Conference Center contract. The boycott has gone national with the support of the AFL-CIO. There is no strike by the staff of the Conference Center and there are no collective labor issues under discussion between that staff and Marriott management. But, the boycott has cost the conference center with events being cancelled. It’s estimated that over $205,000 in revenue has been lost in 2026 alone.

While it is connected to the conference center, the boycott does not extend to the Marriott.

For the last 20 years, SPX has been held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. With the boycott, the convention has been put in a tough position.

While it supports labor and the right of all workers to organize, bargain collectively, and advocate for fair treatment, it’s also bound by contracts and locked in to the location until 2029. To cancel its contract would cost the convention $85,787 in a cancellation fee which would be enough to close the convention. And, relocation would cause the costs to increase 30% or more for tables, badges, and hotel rooms.

The situation puts the convention in a tough spot and not long after it was impacted during COVID and its future was unknown. Like SPX, we hope that all parties can reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible.

You can read SPX’s position below.

The Small Press Expo is a 501(c) 3 non-profit that has been an institution in Montgomery County, Maryland for more than 30 years, drawing tens of thousands of people and international acclaim via our annual festival. For the last 20 of those years, we have been holding SPX at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, and we now consider it our home.

Our purpose throughout that time has never wavered. We exist to promote, preserve, and protect the labor of creative professionals. SPX further supports the right of all workers to exercise their fundamental right to organize, bargain collectively, and advocate for fair treatment. The ability of working people to act together is a cornerstone of a fair and equitable workplace.

At the same time, we want to be transparent about our own circumstances that do now allow us to participate in the boycott:

• SPX has contracts at the Bethesda North facility from this year until 2029. If we cancel any one of those contracts, SPX does not have the financial resources to cover the cancellation fees that we would incur. The result of canceling any of the contracts, including the one for this year whose cancellation fee is $85,787, would be that SPX closes permanently.

• Even if the cancellation penalties were to be paid, our show cannot relocate to another venue in the DC area. 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.

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. 

Source: Graphic Policy