Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Unions and the Hotel

It would be interesting to know how the membership does feel. I may have 

made the unwarranted assumption that people who live in cohousing 

communities tend to be liberal/progressives, and this camp that usually 

supports the idea of unions.

For myself, I choose to support organizations that allow workers to 

speak with a voice about wages, benefits, and working conditions.  I 

also value the general standard of a 40-hour, 5-day work week--neither 

would exist without unions.  While some unions are bloated, 

unreasonable, and even corrupt, the same could be said about about 

politicians yet we (my assumption) still value the ideal of democracy.  

(You might want to know I live in Madison, Wisconsin, a location where 

few are neutral about collective bargaining.)

BTW, I think the organization did it's best with the situation and some 

lessons can be learned for further hotel bookings.

Maybe Sally & I should duke this out via private correspondence.

Karen Carlson
Arboretum Cohousing Community
Madison Wisconsin

On 4/2/11 8:04 AM, Sally Thompson wrote:

I wonder why we have to be so supportive of unionizing.  Could someone
explain why this political stance was taken on behalf of us all, when some
of us may feel that unions in this economy may do more harm than good?   I,
for one, would be thrilled to cross the picket line and make my own bed,
arrange chairs in meeting rooms ourselves, etc. with a very substantial
reduction in nightly rates, which would provide us with restaurant money to
eat elsewhere.  Just a thought to add to the debate.
----- Original Message -----
From:<cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org>
To:<cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2011 6:16 AM
Subject: Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 87, Issue 2

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Today's Topics:

   1. Variety Show (Donna Niemann)
   2. Re: Cohousing Conference early registration deadline extended
      to April 7 (Doug Chamberlin)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:08:50 -0700
From: Donna Niemann<donnaniem [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: [C-L]_ Variety Show
To: Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org
Cc: fholson [at] cohousing.org
Message-ID:<5BA4FDAB-B928-4B08-9FD3-EACEA2A7B52E [at] earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hello Everyone!
I am on the committee for this year's National Cohousing Conference
"Coho-Variety Show"
I am putting together a flyer and would like to include photos from
previous cohousing
variety shows. If you have any, please send them to me, appreciate it.
Thank you!
Donna Nieman

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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:59:11 -0400
From: Doug Chamberlin<chamberlin.doug [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Cohousing Conference early registration deadline
extended to April 7
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Message-ID:<4D95E83F.1030209 [at] gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

On 3/31/11 11:29 PM, Sharon Villines wrote:

For next years conference, just get a clause in the contract so you can
cancel if there is a strike. I don't know the right wording but get legal
advise. That's the advise of union friends.

I think your union friends have not thought it through because this
solution is simplistic at best.

First, strikes are not the only action you might consider serious.
Boycotts are not strikes. The boycott request might exist without a
strike or strike threat from the union. So if you receive a boycott
request you will have been alerted to a problem but unless there is an
actual strike your contract clause will not help you at all.

Second, what about timing? If you are alerted to a labor dispute months
before your scheduled event how long do you wait for it to be resolved?
How do you write that contract clause exactly? "In the event of a labor
dispute  during the scheduled time of our event or up to X months
previous, we are allowed to cancel our event without penalty?" I don't
think this would fly.

Third, even if you find a way to cancel, you are then going to
inconvenience all your attendees because they may need to make
alternative travel arrangements, pay increased rates for rooms, etc.

No, I think the best response is to let the venue know you are aware of
the labor dispute, that it will affect your dealings with the venue,
that you want it resolved quickly, and that you will let your attendees
know about it.

Doug C.

------------------------------

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Re: Unions and the Hotel	<– Date –> <– Thread –>
From: Karen Carlson (kcarlson2wisc.edu)
Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 08:54:41 -0700 (PDT)