National Conference | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Entin (davidentincomcast.net) | |
Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 16:56:55 -0700 (PDT) |
I understand the agonizing over the union problem at the hotel where the national cohousing conference is being held. I too am very sad about this situation. All my life my sympathies have been with workers over management. I am proud that both my children have worked as union organizers. It is for these reasons that I strongly supported COHO/US exploring moving the conference and negotiating with the union. Twice we tried to see if it was feasible to move the conference. At this late date we found the cost to our small organization to be prohibitive. In fact, it could bankrupt the organization. And it would prove more costly to folks coming to the conference as well, a significant factor. So, we tried to explore other ways to indicate our support for the union position and came up with several good ways to do this. We took the union up on what we thought was a good faith effort to negotiate a suitable way for our organization to support them. Unfortunately the union had no interest in these proposals; their only position was for us to leave the hotel, which at this late date was not possible. As a board member I have a responsibility to ensure the survival of the Cohousing Association of the US as the primary advocate for cohousing in our nation. Unfortunately this means we cannot move our conference at the last minute to satisfy the union's hard-line, non-negotiable position. Of course I wish we knew about this union issue much earlier; we certainly would have chosen another site for the conference. We chose Washington, DC. this year because of our new national advocacy thrust and because we expected strong support from the large and vigorous cohousing community in the DC area. I do not see this as COHO/US vs. the union at all. It is a fight between the union and the hotel and I know most of us want the union to beat the corporate conglomerate who owns these hotels and whose primary goal is to make money for the rich owners at the expense of exploiting workers. I do not believe that our conference will make a significant difference to this larger struggle. Though I can understand the concern and sympathy for the union, I am disappointed with folks who are not supporting the conference. The cohousing movement is still in its infancy and needs all the support it can get. This is indeed a sad situation. David Entin, Rocky Hill Cohousing, Northampton, MA and member of the board of directors of COHO/US.
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National Conference Mac Thomson, October 3 1995
- Re: National Conference John Lockrem, MD, October 3 1995
- National Conference The CoHousing Company, August 31 1999
- National Conference David Entin, May 30 2011
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