Issue No 7 | 02 April 1999 | |
UnionsWhy I Support the YogiBy Michael Crosby
- Director of TUTA There is only one issue for the union movement in NSW - and that is survival.
Finding the resources to be able to grow. Reallocating priorities so that every cent of our money goes into organising campaigns so that we regain power in our workplaces. The debate about the future of Currawong is just one example of the hard decisions that every union needs to start making in relation to their resources. The facts are clear. Currawong is a fantastic holiday venue for a group of union members. The Friends of Currawong have done a great job in reviving the site as a holiday destination for union members and their families. Given all their work and the quality of the site, no on should be surprised that they are very resistant to any substantial change to the facility. The problem is that the Movement that owns Currawong has changed. It is under unprecedented attack from employers and Government. The Federal Government sold Clyde Cameron College for a knock down price just so that the Union Movement would be deprived of its use. At the same time TUTA has been reinvented as a wholly union owned venture teaching the skills of survival and growth to union officials. It needs a good residential training facility. Labor Council has built a first class training room at Currawong - with the invaluable help of the Currawong Committee. That problem is fixed. The cottages do not provide good enough accommodation for students - particularly when you consider that our courses are generally held in those months when recreational use is low. They are poorly insulated and difficult to heat. They have outside toilets. To fit enough participants in we have to put one student in a bedroom and another in the lounge room on a pull out bed. All this is fine if you are having a holiday there and you choose to rough it a little but not ideal for an official spending long hours in a training room. If the weather is cold, we have great difficulty in fitting all the students into Midholme for dining and recreation - they can't spread outside. The Union Management Course this year, as an example, will have 23 participants. That means that half of them will have to eat at a table set up in the lounge room which then has to be taken away at the end of the meal so that the participants have somewhere to sit in comfort and talk. But then there is only room for around ten students to be seated comfortably in the lounge room. Faced with that reality the Labor Council clearly wants to ensure that TUTA has the ability to offer residential training at a reasonable cost and at an acceptable level. There is another problem. Many unions - and particularly national unions - hold their Executive Meetings and other planning meetings on a residential basis. At present you can't fit more than 23 people into Currawong. That means that these meetings are held in expensive city hotels. If Labor Council can increase the amount of accommodation at Currawong and provide dining and recreation facilities sufficient to hold these conferences, the money currently going to big city hotels could be going to organising. The final issue that is certainly weighing on the minds of many unions is that Currawong is currently making a loss. Yet it is an asset worth many millions of dollars. It is difficult to justify that situation continuing when so many unions are desperate to find the money to fund their growth. It is for all these reasons that the Corporate Renaissance Proposal is so attractive. It increases the number of single rooms to 80 which would enable most unions to hold planning meetings there. It provides for a dining and recreation facility which solves the problem of overcrowding at the Midholme dining/lounge room and it provides for an income of $200,000 per year which can be used on organising. The Friends of Currawong proposal doesn't stack up. It provides 27 beds of an acceptable standard, but no additional dining facility and the possibility - if all projections are correct - of an income of $130,000. (This proposal also provides for 32 additional beds in dormitory style accommodation. But I can't expect union officials to stay in that kind of accommodation.) We simply have to think about our main priority - what is best for the union movement as a whole. Yes, I am sympathetic to the concerns of the Friends of Currawong and I am pleased that the Corporate Renaissance proposal has changed to meet their concerns about recreational use for union members. But at the end of the day we have to have a residential venue which provides for the training of officials. We need a venue that can deliver a conference venue to unions at a substantially cheaper cost. And we need money to fund growth. The Corporate Renaissance Proposal is very attractive indeed.
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Interview: Friends State Their Case Friends of Currawong member Barry Cotter outlines his objections to the Corporate Renaissance plan and his own plans for the facility. Unions: Why I Support the Yogi There is only one issue for the union movement in NSW - and that is survival. History: A History of Little Mackeral Beach - �Currawong' Marilyn Dodkin* looks at the facts behind the myths surrounding Currawong. Review: Currawong Beach Cottages A Currawong user looks at the holiday experience.
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