1/21/2012 5:01 PM
Sorry guys that I wasn't able to find cut and paste this story, and wasn't really sure where to post it. I thought about here in politics because it has been an issue we have debated some here, but I am also hoping to see a response from GCSAA who participated, either from our president or ceo or someone, if appropriate.
Martin Kaufmann wrote a voices piece in Golf Week January 13, 2012 titled "A case of misplaced priorities in Washington"
[quote">After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, federal legislation authorizing relief funds specifically excluded the golf industry from receiving any of the largesse. The indignity was heightened when Congress lumped golf in with massage parlors, tanning salons and liquor stores. In 2009, golf was denied a cut of the $787 billion stimulus package.
Stung by not getting their share of the park, top industry executives organized the "We Are Golf" lobbying initiative in 2010 and hired the Podesta Group, a well-connected Washington lobbying firm. Since then, it has been hard to escape the notion that the golf industry is too preoccupied with winning favor in Washington.
The latest evidence came last week when We Are Golf representatives appeared with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to support Summer Jobs+, an Obama Administration initiative to address youth unemployment.
To some extent, the initiative is a self-fulfilling prophecy; tens of thousands of businesses add entry-level employees each summer.
But We Are Golf goes further, claiming that this summer the golf industry will add "tens of thousands" of paid positions.
We Are Golf spokesman Dave Marin characterized the administration's proposal to business owners this way: "Instead of the five jobs you add in the summer, can you add six?" He said industry reaction was "enthusiastic."
That's dubious, at best, Steve Friedlander, who is VP/golf at The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, Calif., and has run some of the biggest golf resorts in the country, says, "Nobody is going to (add jobs) unless business warrants it. That would be irresponsible to your ownership."
We Are Golf could better represent the industry by addressing legislation that drives down youth employment.
One example: From July 2007 to July 2009, the federal minimum wage rose from $5.15 to $7.25. Put yourself in the position of a course owner who employs a lot of entry-level workers in the cart barn and on the maintenance crew, and is struggling to eek out a profit and avoid layoffs. That would include a majority of course owners. Suddenly, in the space of two years, their entry-level wages rose a staggering 41 percent.
It's little wonder that during those two years, according to The Wall Street Journal, the number of U.S. teenagers with jobs fell 691,000.
This past Labor Day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate for youth ages 16 to 24 was 18.1 percent, twice the national average. Unemployment among black youth last summer reached an indefensible 46.5 percent.
Rather than making hollow public-relations gestures to appease Washington, We Are Golf should redirect its focus to more fundamental problems confronting the industry.
I am interested to see some comments, I have some mixed thoughts it. One there is why can't we play like all the big boys in business? We have provided the importance of the industry, and what's more how many golf courses are the mom and pops, the small businesses that politicians are so eager to defend. And then my other issue is Mr. Kaufmann seems to pick on the people who are probably the backbone of our industry, those making minimum wage, (which I have already posted my thoughts on in another post), when in reality (maybe) isn't the biggest issue? There are a bunch of states who's minimum wages are higher then the federal governments. When talking about statistics of un-employed teens are tending to be more un-employed in my opinion due to the many full-time jobs that have been lost, employers are filling those part-time and summer positions with people who have more flexible schedules. The other thing I find funny is this from a magazine that writes about the professional golf tours and all purses and such, big money, (I know many charities benefit as well). But would sure like to hear others on Mr. Kaufmann's comments.
Mel
Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO