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***********************************************************************************UAW's Black Lake golf course takes $23 million loss over past five years
At a time when it can least afford it, the United Auto Workers union's 1,000 acre golf course and education center in northern Michigan is losing millions of dollars. Over the past five years, the two facilities combined have lost $23 million according to a report by the Detroit Free Press.
The Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center, known amongst UAW members as simply "Black Lake," was opened in the 1970s as a conference center and a training facility for UAW members. It reportedly sleeps 400 people and held classes for 9,000 members last year. In 2000, a Rees Jones-designed regulation golf course was built on the property both for union members and for the public in order to supply income when the site isn't being used for official UAW conferences. The course has won several awards. The Education Center is valued at $27.3 million and the golf course cost at least $6 million to build. Both are for-profit operations.
The problem is, they're not generating a profit. While the education center has generated $30 million in revenue over the past five years, it's also had $20.5 million in net losses, and revenue is down 18% since 2003. The golf course has fared worse, with revenue down 14% since 2003 and net losses of $2.6 million over the past five years. According to records, the golf course has never turned a profit since it was opened. Both facilities have been propped up by loans from the union, and currently owe a combined $24 million.
The facilities' burden comes at a bad time for the UAW, which is struggling in the current auto market. UAW membership has dropped from 1.5 million in the 1970s to 465,000 members today, seriously hurting the union's income. Worse, records show that the union spent $2.7 million more than it took in during 2007, the third time in five years the union has spent over budget. Given that the union took in $327.6 million in 2007 and has $1.2 billion in assets, the Education Center and adjoining golf course are only a fraction of the union's holdings. However, with the poor health of the U.S. auto industry, continuing buyouts and layoffs and contracts that favor the automakers more than the unions, money-losing frivolities are becoming much harder to justify. The UAW refused to discuss any future plans for the Black Lake property.
http://wot.motortrend.com/6293732/miscellaneous/report-uaws-black-lake-golf-course-takes-23-million-loss-over-past-five-years/index.html
