
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 19, 1993                   TAG: 9308190058
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAT BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOMESTEAD'S UP NEXT

The Homestead's owner, Daniel Ingalls Jr., must respond by next Wednesday to union charges that officials of the Hot Springs resort intimidated employees last month while they were voting on whether to be represented by the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union.

Ingalls said he expected his lawyers to file a response ahead of the deadline.

The reply will be to charges placed this week by the union before the National Labor Relations Board in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Union lawyer Jonas Katz said his case stops short of accusing the resort's owners of collusion with Club Resorts, the Dallas firm negotiating to buy the hotel.

Katz said, however, that he considers hotel owners and the prospective buyers "equally culpable" in telling employees the purchase would be blocked if the union were voted in.

"We had to tell our employees the truth," Ingalls said Wednesday. "There was no subtle subterfuge."

Employees on July 30 voted against union representation, 561-239.

On the table is a letter of intent for Club Resorts to buy the Homestead and other assets of its parent, Virginia Hot Springs Inc. The company apparently had intended to finalize the deal by early September.

That schedule no longer seems reasonable because the NLRB will have to study information from both the union and hotel managers before deciding whether to schedule hearings.

Ingalls on Wednesday predicted hearings will not be needed, but said he would need a two-thirds majority approval by shareholders to finalize the sale. Ingalls must give shareholders several weeks' notice of such a meeting.

by CNB