Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993 TAG: 9308120015
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Celeste Katz and Sandra Brown Kelly Staff Writers
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS LENGTH: Medium
This frees owners of the resort to go ahead with the sale of the property to a Texas company unless the union files an objection to the outcome.
Dan Ingalls, president of the hotel, said he was `gratified' at the vote, and that there was only one more major condition to meet - getting the company's mortgage holder to agree to the sale.
`This is simply a vote in favor of the future success of the Homestead, nothing more, nothing less,' Ingalls said.
Union officials have five days to file an objection with the National Labor Relations Board, but officials would not say FDriday if they expected to do so.
`Certainly the laboratory conditions to have a free election were disrupted,' said Ron Richardson, union international vice president. His comments were directed at a condition in the intent-to-purchase agreement Virginia Hot Springs Inc., which owns The Homestead, signed with Club Resorts Inc., the Dallas company that wants to buy it.
The agreement said the sale would not go through if the employees voted in favor of union representation. The attorney for the resort said the sale could still be blocked if the union files the objection because the agreement with Club Resorts says the `no' vote must be confirmed by the NLRB.
Union officials contend that the announcement of that agreement changed the minds of some employees who had favored the union. They said 600 employees signed union cards asking for the vote.
Some employees interviewed Friday did say the possibility of the sale influenced the vote.
`It was a scare tactic by The Homestead that lost this election,' said Susie Kershner, a resort maid who pushed for union representationi
James Bay, who works the front desk at the hotel, said, `This is not a vote on a union, but a vote on bankruptcy or a positive future for the hotel.'
Bay said he voted against the union.
William Pettus, captain in the dining room, favored a union but said the needs and desires of local merchants had a lot to do with the outcome of the vote.
Katy Wood, who runs the Bacova Guild Ltd. company store in downtown, said she had been hopping for a `no' vote.
`Basically all the businesses here depend on The Homestead's guests. There's not much trade with local residents. If the hotel's busy, we're busy. If the hotel's slow, we're slow.'
The situation was summed up by worker Randy Ryder as he placed cloths on the tables in a room where a news conference was to be held announcing the vote outcome.
`The union can't offer anything such as the $12 million this place needs to get out of debt,' Ryder said.
The Homestead lost money during the past three years and has been looking for an investor to finance more than $30 million to $50 million to improve the 521-room hotel, health spa, ski slopes and numerous sporting facilities.
Club Resorts Inc. said July 1 that it planned to fund the needed improvements and, after five years of joint operation, purchase the 227-year-old mountain spa that has become Bath County's largerst empolyer.
by CNB