Money pit: The UAW’s gold-plated golf course
President Bush and the Democrats are happily hammering out the final details of the UAW bailout. The union fatcats are laughing all the way to the…golf course. Their gold-plated golf course. Oh, wait, President Bush forgot to mention it.
And while everyone’s blabbering about “concessions,” here’s a question: If the auto CEOs have to give up their jets, what about the UAW brass and their posh resort?
Here:
Black Lake Golf Course
“Owned and operated by the United Auto Workers union, Black Lake is a public course that provides UAW members and retirees substantial discounts from the regular greens fees. But even at regular rates of up to $95 per round, Black Lake is worth the price. Tee time reservations are accepted up to 14 days in advance for UAW members, and three days in advance for public play.”
More:
Black Lake Golf Club is the newest addition to the UAW’s Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center, situated on 1,000 heavily forested acres along the southeast side of Black Lake, one of Michigan’s largest inland lakes near Onaway, Michigan.
Black Lake Golf Club complements the Center’s recreational facilities, which now include a beautiful gym with two full-sized basketball courts, an Olympic-size indoor pool, and exercise and weight room, table-tennis and pool tables, a sauna, beaches, walking and bike trails, softball and soccer fields and a boat launch ramp.
The UAW selected one of golf’s most acclaimed course architects, Rees Jones, to design an environmentally responsible, championship caliber course. It was a challenge eagerly embraced by Jones, Golf World Magazine’s “Architect of the Year” in 1995.
Like everything else we’re subsidizing, it’s a money pit:
Down a lonely country road far from the interstate hangs a banner at the UAW’s golf course: “Public welcome.” But a review of the golf course and adjacent education center’s financial statements indicate that not enough people have been visiting.
The UAW International’s golf course and education center operations on 1,000 acres near Onaway have together lost $23 million over the past five years, independent audits obtained by the Free Press show. Both are run as for-profit corporations, according to paperwork filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, and the UAW has been propping them up with loans.
“There’s a lot of debate over what to do,” said Arthur Wheaton, a union expert from Cornell University. “They’ve been having trouble there trying to get enough people to go through there to justify the expense,” he added.
…While the UAW International has a huge reserve of money, the union filed financial records with the federal government stating that it spent about $2.7 million more than it took in during 2007 — the third time over the past five years that the union spending exceeded receipts, records show.
“All you have to do is look at the membership trends and realize that there was a golden age when they could easily support the education center,” said Hal Stack, director of the Labor Studies Center at Wayne State University.
“It could be that either things turn around or they sell it,” he added.
From a peak of 1.5 million members in the 1970s, the UAW ranks have dropped to just 465,000 regular members, according to its most recent federal filings.
In 2007 the UAW had receipts — union dues, fees and other income — of $327.6 million and it spent $330.3 million. While losing members, the UAW International, since at least 2000, has been able to hold fairly steady in the amount of money it brings in and spends, according to federal records. It has $1.2 billion in net assets.
Gregg Shotwell, a UAW activist, is not troubled to learn that the education center is losing money. “When you are educating and training union members, that’s the business of the union. That’s never a loss,” Shotwell said.
But the golf course is a different story to Shotwell. “We should be running a union — not a country club,” he said.
The DC Examiner lambastes the UAW and its enablers: Make UAW Sell its Championship Golf Course Before a Bailout
See what others have said
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- Governor Sanford’s Stance Aganist Nationalization « Trust, But Verify
- Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Bailout-ees « Jane Q. Republican
- Gee could the UAW give up this?
- The TIW Blog » Blog Archive » Keepin’ UAW afloat
- Moe_Lane’s blog » I don’t feel like paying for the UAW’s premium golf course. ::
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- Moe_Lane’s blog » I don’t feel like paying for the UAW’s premium golf course. ::
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Surprise level 0.00
Nothing to see here, move along, move along…
Un-freaken-believable!
UAW-SUCKS
One more example of “Diets are good for YOU. Of course, I don’t need one.”
As a former compulsory union member (not UAW) I say make them do the concessions, one of which should be selling this “blue collar country club”.
Figures.
I hope these scumbags enjoy it when Americans protest this bailout by not buying ANYTHING from the Pig 3. I’m done with every single one of these bloated bastards.
LET
THEM
FAIL
Sorry but this is apples and oranges. You have CEO’s and workers in a company. You don’t have CEO’s, workers, and union bosses. If you were serious about this issue you would post the percentage increase of the total compensation packages of the CEO’s compared to the auto workers package increases … minus the non active employees. If the market place dictates what the CEO’s can negotiate why can that not apply to the workers?
Failure is the only option. The question is, when is the government going to let it happen. I vote now!
gee…I wonder if the IAFF has one of those. Since they aren’t doing anything for disabled firemen, maybe I could use their course.
If they could get AIG to hold a few trips there they could be profitable again.
In two years Honda will buy it for pennies on the dollar.
Unions like the UAW are dinosaurs. The meteor has hit and the Dems can try all they want, but the Jurrasic Period is over.
It should. The Small 3 are broke. Wages should go down.
No way!
People who know how to make money know that people want to golf in Palm Springs in the winter – not Michigan.
Something occurred to me, Black Lake Golf Course would make a real nice trailer court for all those retired UAW workers.
Corruption is the norm. Nothing is left to do except break away. Not secede per se, but refuse to be a part of this nepotistic socialism. The government is the enemy of the responsible, the ethical, and the patriot.
Hey, they have to do something while they’re being paid not to work!
You probably want them to play their golf on some public golf course don’tcha?
That wouldn’t be very exclusive like the CEO’s private golf course club is.
They’re just exercising their God given right to be just as elitist as their bosses!….with their constituencies money too!! Ripping them off just like their elected politicians do!!!!
Bwahahahahhahahaaaaaaa!
Because the free market dictates what CEOs earn and their skill sets dictate what offers they receive. There aren’t thousands upon thousands of qualified CEOs waiting for a chance to run Fortune 500 companies.
On the other hand, there are literally millions of people in Michigan who are qualified to stand on an assembly line, and would happily do so for less than half of what the UAW workers demand. Like it or not, there’s not much skill required of the assembly line workers.
When a janitor makes the same as an engineer, something is wrong with the system.
You got my vote, Gator!
Used to be a time when we would tar and feather the whole lot of these bastards, simply on principle. I’m not old enough to have lived through those days, but I certainly do miss them.
And Don: They did “negotiate”. A really sweet deal, too! Where else but in a UAW job could a guy who barely made it through high school earn as much per year as a guy who graduated with an engineering degree, but also have the safety and comfort of a full pension (the engineer had better save), not have to risk being fired or sued (That’s why they carry malpractice and liability insurance), and never have to worry (until now) about developing or maintaining their skill sets and knowledge because they will always have a place to pull a lever (while similar “high paying” jobs with licenses/certifications generally require out of pocket annual training and re-education goals).
Sure, it’s not what the CEOs make, but hell, when you don’t have to follow a near perfect career path, take several successful (and often lucky) risks, dedicate your entire life while ignoring family and friends, all on the gamble that you will get the one shot at making the decisions that your entire company and thousands to millions of lives may depend on…
…well, I’m sure we can find something comparable on the factory floor, right? It’s not like, if that lever-puller gets sick, we can continue to operate on the line. Hell, he’s the most important and irreplaceable guy there!
Simple truth: Those that offer themselves to the greatest risk tend to chance a greater reward, but also fail more frequently and more spectacularly. The UAW, with their risky gambles driving for “Worker’s rights”, won several small victories, but now is time for them to face the potential large failure that comes from chasing success.
Great minds, MarcoPolo
…and we are supposed to be concerned if the Big Three go bankrupt…
…on top of their “Jobs” bank.
This isn’t a crap sandwich. It’s a seven course crapapalooza meal!
Let them eat greens !
It is not the CEO’s it is the Board of Directors that set the pay and package. Just like Narelli and Home Depot, the Board set the salary package. It was the screaming and the protests from the HD stockholders that got the Board to listen, eventually, about Nardelli’s performance and pay package.
Yes, the UAW has given up some items but those were already getting heat or were being slated to pare down anyway because they were getting negative reactions from some of the media.
No matter what happens to the union workers, the leadership will always have a job.
…The fatted calf needs to be led to slaughter.
…The bull needs to be gored.
…The golden egg needs to be broken, scrambled and fried…and the goose that laid it, put to rest.
I was forced into joining the graduate student union, which is sponsored by the UAW. I wonder if I have privileges at this place, even though I’m a non-voting member?
Don’t bail out the American automakers…let them fail. Hard lesson to learn, but wouldn’t it be much nicer if everyone was driving Toyotas, Hondas and BMWs?
The American car is a dinosaur. Time to go…extinct.
UAW can’t manage anything…they can’t manage their workers, can’t make decent cars (major quality issue), and can’t manage their own money.
From the looks of it, there aren’t even 500 qualified CEOs. I guarantee I, or any janitor for that matter step into the shoes of the CEO of Chrysler and lose just as much money.
But I am willing to do it for half the pay.
What else don’t we know?
I bet you could start a UAWpedia with all the scams and corrupt goings on with that union and the all other unions affiliated with the UAW.
TIP OF THE ICEBERG ( and as slippery too) yet we’ll never know. Kinda the age of obama thing.
*Remember, 93% of the working public are non-union; Union membership continues to go down; They have far outlived their usefulness with the current labor laws on the books.
*The UAW has chased more manufacturing jobs out of this country than any other factors combined.
*GM, Ford, and Chrysler have zero long term viability as long as the UAW remains a part of the equation.
*Unions are part and parcel of the dismantling of personal responsibility, which is why they are so well aligned with liberals and the Democratic Party.
Onaway is not close to anything. It is right at the first knuckle of the index finger of the mitten. It is three hours by car from Saginaw, the nearest UAW plant.
What are the stockholders doing at their annual meetings…voting on which CEO is best for caving to the unions and ruining the company business?
I assume the dems are ready to tie that union anchor around their necks…the vast majority of Americans will not be buying over priced cars and supporting fat cat uneducated assembly line employees. They think business is bad now, wait the this bailout goes through.
Looks like another opening for the repubs if they only had a backbone and some true American principles and values. the repubs snatching defeat from the jaws of victory…continuation of election years 2006 and 2008.
Last car I bought my motto was “no foreign, no four door”…uh. In the future no American cars for me as long as the union is dragging the tax payers into poverty, along with incompetent.management.
While we are talking about Bush, I don’t think he’s done anything that can be praise worthy, yet. Don’t tell me about we haven’t been attacked for 7 years, so he’s protected us. What ever made anyone think the Mooslimbs were in a hurry to over take us, hell they’ve waiting since the last Crusade. Open boarders and high immigration rates, I’m not suggesting or predicting here, just pondering, what are the chances they have a plan to attack in maybe 20 large cities in America shortly after Odumbo takes office…just saying.
Gregg Shotwell is an asshole. He alone makes for a very good topic on why the UAW should not be bailed out!
They were screaming because he wasn’t intent on catering to Wall St’s never-ending cries of “feed me!” He was more focused on long term strategy than short term returns. And he looks like a genius now.
My next vehicle isn’t going to be made by the small 3. It looks like it is going to be more patriotic to buy from one of the transplant brands. Who wants to buy a bailout car?
Does anyone know what the UAW president and his underlings are paid annually?
I can think of an immediate remedy to their overspending, cut their wages!
The UAW President salary was $160,000 last year. However this does not cover all the perks
Velkom to zee Education Center. You vill be one of us soon.
If the UAW believes so strongly in the Big 3, then why don’t they come up with a pool of their own money, from their members, the union itself, and any other sources they can
shake downfind? The Big 3 is good enough for our money, but not theirs?They need a to oust the Big 3 CEO’s and take the first guy below them willing to be a Union Buster and put him/her in the Driver’s seat.
That way, the companies will be shut down for a limited period of time during the strike, thus saving those operating and labor dollars, not to mention it will allow sales chains to use up some of that overstock of 400,000 autos.
Then, once the Union is out (or chastised), the company can hire back just the good workers they want, and leave the chaff behind.
So, let’s review….
Fat Cat CEO’s out (probably including the immediate level below them as well).
Broken Union.
Slacker workers gone.
Why do we need a bailout. This should work fine.
Enough talk about the CEOs’ salaries. We recognize they come after MANY years of hard work, scarifice, and risk. Plus it could all end the next day when the stockholders revolt.
How about the Union leaders’ salaries? What do they do to earn that other than obstruct change, hold their breath and make workers go out on strike while they continue to live the good life? Why can’t the stockholders throw them out as well for their job performance?
reverenddon, perhaps the brain trust of the uaw should take it’s 1.2b dollars and buy gm stock. show the fatcats how socialism works better than capitalism. why buy golf courses and casinoes in vegas, when you could buy controlling interest in gm. but no. we’ll just sit on the sidelines and b***h about those greedy investors and owners. well how do you like that trickle up economy so far. without the money honey, you can’t sell cars, tvs, vacations, houses, clothes,… MAYBE this will show the class envy crowd that investors and entrepenuers are actually needed, and profits for companies aren’t a four letter word.
That’s nothingburger if you’ve got the corporate Cessna.
Why did I go to college?
Very interesting, MM. The UAW has an impressive level of experience with bankrupt enterprises.
They can and should. But, CEO’s don’t have a legal right to shut down a company while they negotiate. They don’t use thuggery and intimidation to arrive at a settlement. While there are plenty of crappy CEO’s around, for the most part they bring skills that the marketplace puts a high value on.
The union mentality refuses to accept that there are valuable skills that require little or no sweat. The only value is how long you have been on the job. But the union mentality abhors management and the skills that go with it. That’s why things like the golf course will fail. Unless of course, the purpose is to make it fail so that the union bosses have a better time playing! They are good at making things fail. There is (or was) a union hospital in Philadelphia that gave members essentially free health care. It was so poorly run you couldn’t get people to go there for a haircut. Instead, they used more expensive insurance to go to a real hospital.
The Big 3 shouldn’t be allowed to fail. They should be forced to fail. Unionism, fueled by union dues has polluted our politics long enough. They don’t call them Internationals for nothing. They were founded on the principal that the worker’s collective is more important than nations.
The economy won’t collapse. The demand for cars will be filled by auto plants in the south.
Member dues at work. I wonder how many of the UAW members actually golf their on a regular basis?
Amazing. No wonder the Dems like the Unions so much, they both do not know basic fiduciary practices.
Learn something new every day.
I hear you HuskySig…I have been wondering the same thing since I was “Shanghaied” by the UAW because do occasional machining in one of their machine shops at UW-Seattle