|
|
Post by TonyV on Aug 10, 2008 10:25:43 GMT -5
Onaway, Michigan
The Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center
The Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center is located on Black Lake near Onaway, Michigan. It is funded from interest on the UAW strike fund. No union anywhere in the world offers an education center of this magnitude to its members. With its stunning design, beautiful location, and warm, open atmosphere it is the envy of labor educators.
Each summer UAW families may apply to participate in the scholarship program. Members, spouses and older children learn about the union and have the opportunity to participate in supervised recreational programs.
The education center conducts conferences geared to the responsibilities of union officeholders. Classes are offered on leadership development, union involvement, health and safety, political action, civil rights and many other topics. It is also used by UAW regions for leadership training in their summer and fall schools.
The Black Lake experience has bonded UAW members into a strong family with a shared vision for the future. The center generally operates 11 months of the year and accommodates up to 450 students at one time.
Center accommodations include 241 completely remodeled guest rooms, featuring lakeside rooms at Maxon Lodge, hotel-style rooms and fully equipped condos. The campground is open to all UAW members. Campsites are equipped with sewer, water and electrical hookup with nearby indoor shower, toilet and laundry facilities. There also is a boat launching ramp and dock.
A beautiful gymnasium houses two full-sized basketball courts and can seat up to 1,200 people when set up as an auditorium. There is an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, a sauna next to the men's and women's dressing rooms, an exercise and weight room and pool and table tennis tables.
Black Lake Golf Club is the newest addition to the recreational side of the Family Education Center. Designed by acclaimed architect Rees Jones, the course takes advantage of the spectacular property and is situated on 1,000 acres of heavily-forested land on the southeast side of one of Michigan's largest inland lakes.
During the week and on weekends, lodging at the center is available to UAW members and UAW guests. For more information or for reservations, call toll-free 1-866-829-4653.
|
|
|
|
Post by TonyV on Aug 10, 2008 10:27:14 GMT -5
Building a Union
Walter P. Reuther helped to unite autoworkers
By Karen English
From Tomorrow Annual Meeting Issue
Appropriately, Walter Reuther was born just in time for Labor Day, on September 1, 1907, in industrial Wheeling, W. Va. His hardworking German immigrant parents were dedicated union supporters who taught their children to work for social justice.
At 16, Reuther became an apprentice die maker. Three years later he moved to Detroit and found a job on Ford's second shift. Off the clock, he finished school, always finding time for the struggle to unionize his adopted city.
Reuther's politics may have cost him his job when the Depression hit. But he took the layoff as an opportunity for an educational tour of Europe.
Reuther at a 1964 Detroit press conference with former UAW President Leonard Woodcock (left).
Returning in 1935, he found that the Roosevelt administration was encouraging unions. Previous attempts to organize autoworkers in the 1920s, including the Auto Workers Union Reuther had joined, hadn't made much progress.
But the Depression changed things, and when the United Auto Workers held its first conference in 1935, it found an eager audience. In the fall, Local 174 was chartered, drawing from many plants. Reuther, then just 29 years old, was elected president.
Reuther worked with the UAW to get the Big Three to the bargaining table. Encouraged by its success in organizing General Motors in 1937, the union took on Chrysler, which signed its first agreement that same year.
The UAW then moved in on Ford, a tougher target. Reuther and a few colleagues were passing out leaflets at the River Rouge plant when they were attacked by Ford "security guards." Even though the union men had a permit to pass out handbills, nearby police didn't stop the beating. Press photos of the brutality aroused public sympathy for the union and helped immortalize this bloody "Battle of the Overpass" in labor history.
During WWII, Reuther worked to keep defense production high while protecting workers. He was also an adviser to the Roosevelt administration, where his intelligence and idealism served the interests of both labor and Western democracy.
The end of the war unleashed a wave of pent-up labor issues, and in 1946 Reuther rode that wave to the presidency of the UAW, an office he held for 24 years. Under his watch, the UAW matured as an industrial union and a strong presence in the international labor movement.
But Reuther's tenure was not untroubled. The worst moment was an assassination attempt in 1948 that left him severely wounded. Undeterred, Reuther recovered to lead an increasingly united union during a period of growth -- the late 1940s to 1970.
Reuther's dream was an educational center that would nurture effective union leaders. This center was nearly completed in 1970, when Reuther and his wife, May, were killed in a plane crash.
Today, the busy Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center in Onaway, Mich., is the perfect memorial to this dedicated leader.
|
|
|
|
Post by TonyV on Aug 10, 2008 10:31:01 GMT -5
Walter & May Reuther
UAW Family Education Center
History/Background
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 1966 - UAW Officers approved site for purchase.
January 1967 - purchase completed.
November 1967 - construction started.
Construction of the Main Buildings took almost 3 years.
Log cabin buildings were the only buildings on the property when purchased.
Lou Maxon, a Detroit advertising executive had the log cabins built.
Main MaxonLodge was built in 1932 as a hunting lodge.
Many auto executives and show people stayed at the Maxon Lodge. Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball honeymooned here.
Harry Bennett of Ford delayed a bargaining session because they were going to spend a few days at this fabulous place. At the next meeting Mr. Bennett showed pictures of the place to the Union people. Walter said "in jest," "after the revolution we will own that place."
In January 1967, the UAW purchased the Maxon lodge along with 750 acres, and took out an option on 250 additional acres. The UAW purchased another 200 acres in 1989 from the Sugar Estate which adjoins the Hilltop area. We now own approximately 1,200 acres.
The beach is called "Hongore Bay."
Black Lake covers about 10,100 acres and is 3 miles wide and 6 miles long, with a shoreline of 27 miles. It is called Black Lake because of its depth of up to 50 feet, making the water look very black.
Fish - walleye, perch, pike and sturgeon.
Trees - many planted by the C.C.C. and are white, red, scotch and jackpine, cedar, oak, maple, aspen and hemlock.
All utility systems on the Center are underground.
The treatment plant covers six acres and is a blender rather than a chemical treatment system. There are five one-acre lagoons. Lift stations around the Center pump all sewage away from the lake in order to eliminate pollution.
Fireplace hearths are from Canada and French Creek, Pennsylvania.
Crab Orchard Stone - 15,000 tons of it came from Wisconsin.
The Gymnasium/Auditorium was built first and can seat 1,200 people.
All bronze work was cast in Italy and designed by Vivalli.
Oskar Stonorov was the principle architect of the buildings.
Roofs are strong enough to carry five feet of snow.
The laminated beams and columns came from the West Coast. They vary in diameter from 9 to 16 inches and some are 40 feet long. The columns were turned on the lathes used for masts of sailing ships.
The longest beam is in the Dining Room and is 72 feet long.
The red cedar was used both indoors and outdoors.
Doors and wood trim are birch.
Wood paneling in the sleeping rooms is pecan.
Student corridor railings are red birch.
Hotel can sleep 300.
Dining Room will seat 300.
Everything that looks like marble is actually granite.
The Japanese arch bridge is pre-cast cement and its bronze sculptured light is called Man and Woman.
Bronze fireplace in the Dining Room has a Latin inscription that is the motto of Michigan: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."
The handrails on the staircase in the Dining Room are made of teak.
The large black stone outside the Dining Room is lava stone and was a gift to the Center from the quarry in Wisconsin. It weighs 300 pounds.
The Hub, or Zodiac Room in the connecting hallways from the student units to Education and the Gym area, displays the signs of the zodiac on the birthdate of Walter Reuther - - September 1,1907. This was a gift to the Center from the Construction Trades who built the Center.
The bronze sculpture at the fork of the road to the Main Lobby is called "Children of the World."
The swimming pool is Olympic-size and is heated to a comfortable temperature. The saunas are located in the dressing rooms and an exercise room is available for the adult guests of the Center.
There is a 51-site campground for the use of UAW members and retirees. All sites have full hook-up of water, sewer & electric.
The Inn was originally a horse stable.
The Old Lodge is of whole log construction and has hand-hewn beams and the stair treads are half log cuts as in the mantle over the fireplace. The furniture in the old section is from the Maxon era and features hard rock maple chairs and tables, beds and chests.
The chalets on Hilltop will house 72 people.
There is an 18-hole golf course opened Spring 2000.
On May 9, 1970, the plane carrying Walter and May Reuther, their bodyguard and the architect Oskar Stonorov to the Center crashed in nearby Pellston. All (six) were killed in the crash, including the pilots. Walter and May Reuther's ashes were spread in a simple ceremony atop a hill across from the Main Lobby area. This area is marked by the flame in the Japanese lantern, donated to the Center by Japanese Trade Unions in their memory.
Above the Main Lobby is a pictorial history of Walter and May Reuther. The plaque near the Japanese lantern for the Reuther's reads:
There is no greater calling than to serve your brother, There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.
Walter P. Reuther and May Reuther In Brotherhood and Peace
Walter's brother, Roy Reuther's ashes are on the hill also. His plaque reads:
"Look to the stars - - - Let us dream our hopes and aspirations for that better tomorrow.
Roy L. Reuther In Freedom and Social Justice"
|
|
|
|
Post by Grimace on Aug 10, 2008 15:45:36 GMT -5
Nice job TonyV!
It's really impressive in person, the entire staff tried to make everyone as comfortable as possible.
The classes are well rehearsed, and the instructors are extremely knowledgeable, if you have a question regarding the contract, the unions past or current direction?, it's the place to go.
I have a huge respect for it now that I've been there. It is NOT a party. It's an eye opening week of really interesting information, camaraderie, and relaxation.
Grimace
|
|
|
|
Post by ScottR@KTP on Aug 10, 2008 18:52:13 GMT -5
So, you did hold hands and sing? LOL I've been there...they get you pumped up to bring good info back, and then once you return, it's very easy to get stuck in the "rut again". Best of luck in utilizing all that you learned Grimace.
|
|
|
|
Post by bigredogre on Aug 11, 2008 13:01:59 GMT -5
of course you all hold hands when singing solidarity forever.
it was a good experience there.
|
|
|
|
Post by marcus on Aug 12, 2008 18:10:12 GMT -5
Id love to go.Its only a party if the people going there make it one.Sure we here about all the drinking that goes on but those people would do that here to.Glad you learned something from it good job.
|
|
|
|
Post by tonyp on Sept 9, 2008 16:37:36 GMT -5
We could learn the same with a DVD. Sell it and give me the money!
|
|
|
|
Post by kuka on Nov 23, 2008 21:21:29 GMT -5
Tony, good job. Thanks for the info. maybe I might get a chance to make it one day.
|
|
|
|
Post by 30yearpace on Sept 3, 2011 4:02:47 GMT -5
Rumor is the water is tainted at Black Lake. For some reason our Reps go visit this place and they all come back saying "THEY CAN DO THAT".....WTF....DO NOT DRINK THE WATER AT BLACK LAKE!!
|
|
|
|
Post by aayush on Jul 12, 2012 7:31:34 GMT -5
30,you done a good job. Thanks for the info. maybe I might get a chance to make it one day. Body Kits For Mercedes |
|
|
|
Post by bcrewlove on Jul 30, 2012 18:24:01 GMT -5
Only about a 11 hour drive lol. If you can go. Summer school or other training. Just don't expect to lose weight if your on a diet.
|
|
cmark
New Member
Posts: 3
|
Post by cmark on Nov 18, 2012 13:23:53 GMT -5
i want to go & take my wife & kids if possable....how do you get an invite or make reservations...??
|
|
|
|
Post by pauljosaph on Nov 20, 2014 7:39:43 GMT -5
of course you all hold hands when singing solidarity forever. it was a good experience there. Nice one, thanks for sharing. |
|
|
|
Post by pauljosaph on Nov 26, 2014 4:24:25 GMT -5
of course you all hold hands when singing solidarity forever. it was a good experience there. Yup agreed with the point. |
|
|
|
Post by markjguillen on Feb 23, 2015 5:58:17 GMT -5
Wow amzing nice job TonyV.... keep sharing  |
|
