May 15--The UAW has bid $9.75 million for an exclusive resort in Palm Springs, Calif. 

The union's bid is well below the $11.1-million asking price for La Mancha Resort Village, which is open but in Chapter 11 reorganization in federal bankruptcy court in Riverside, Calif. 

The court must accept or reject the UAW's bid, and should the offer be approved, union officials would have 60 days in which to make a final decision to go forward with the purchase. 

Union officials wouldn't specify their plans for the 100-bedroom resort other than calling it a sound business investment. They also said it may have potential for an education and conference center. The Free Press first reported April 21 the union was considering making such a bid. 

Palm Springs is a frequent winter destination for UAW officials. They often stay at the Riviera Resort and Racquet Club, which is owned by the pension fund of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. 

Union officials say the UAW is one of the financially strongest unions in the country -- with assets of $1.1 billion at the end of last year -- because of the stewardship of UAW President Stephen Yokich and the international executive board. 

"The consideration of the purchase of the La Mancha resort is just another one of those investment decisions being considered," a top UAW official wrote in a column for another publication, which was given to the Free Press on Monday in response to questions about the purchase. "We have been advised that this is a very sound business investment. Also, this property may have great potential for the beginning of a western education and conference facility." 

Some UAW rank-and-file members say they don't want to see the union adding a resort to an investment portfolio that includes a $6-million golf course in northern Michigan and a radio network that is millions of dollars in debt. The union is also the largest unsecured creditor in Pro Air, a start-up airline that declared bankruptcy last year, but plans to resume flying this year out of Detroit City Airport. The union invested $14.7 million in Pro Air last year as part of a deal to get UAW members, spouses, children and retirees seats on the discount airline for last little as $25. 

"I don't think we have any business in business," says Jim Kennedy of Waterford, a 35-year member of the UAW and road test driver for the General Motors Corp. Truck and Bus plant in Pontiac. "We aren't geared to think like business people and if we think like business people, we're not unionists." 

Added Kennedy: "We couldn't run a radio station, we couldn't run an airline. Why the hell do they think they can run a hotel?" 

La Mancha sought bankruptcy court protection in October 1998 and at the time owed its creditors $5.2 million. It listed assets of $11.74 million. 

People familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Monday that the UAW may have some competition from an Oakland County development company and a nonprofit in Los Angeles that they declined to identify. An official of the Michigan company said his firm had asked only for information about the resort and had not made an offer. 

"The UAW has been negotiating on La Mancha prior to me even coming on to the scene. Their interest goes back at least three months," said Michael Kassinger, a Palm Springs-based real estate agent appointed by the bankruptcy court to handle the listing for La Mancha. 

"I think the union has some competition for the property," said Kassinger, who wouldn't elaborate. 

Norman Hanover, the attorney representing La Mancha in the bankruptcy, said Yokich and other UAW brass stayed at La Mancha last week for several days. 

"Yokich was there as a guest of the hotel. He's been here quite often, probably four or five times," said Hanover. 

Hanover said it would be inappropriate to comment on the union's bid. He must decide whether the bid is appropriate. If he does, he will take it to the court and notify any other bidders. 

"After that the bidding is a pretty open process," he said. 

The hotel is at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains and is spread across 20 acres. Amenities include fine dining, tennis, a spa, steam baths and saunas, personal training, pool-side massages and a croquet lawn, according to its Web site. 

--By Jennifer Dixon and Jeffrey McCracken 

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