Cohousing-L Mailing List: National Conference

[David Entin (davidentin]

      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.