By Danielle Kutchel
The sale of the Cranbourne RSL is all but confirmed.
While the names of the new owners have not yet been made public, president of the Dandenong/Cranbourne RSL, John Wells, said contracts of sale were expected to be signed within weeks.
“The place will continue to run as an RSL for a little while after that, we think about five or six months, then it will go on pretty much as is for another 12 months with the new owners but with the RSL name off it,” he explained.
Members will need to find a new home for the RSL, but Mr Wells said he hoped the “pause” wouldn’t take long.
“We’ve committed to a new location. We’re putting $2.5 million in as a base amount to start looking for land or a building we can modify.
“It will be a smaller operation. It may well be something that runs for meals on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday or something like that.
“It will be something for darts people and indoor bowls and will have a bar – it will do most of what the current one does but on a smaller scale, and it won’t have poker machines.”
Mr Wells said Cranbourne members would be entitled and welcome to attend Dandenong RSL instead, but added that management would be looking to establish a new Cranbourne club house as soon as possible.
He said the management team continued to talk to staff at Cranbourne RSL to explain the situation, but had encountered “resentment”.
Donna Lester, manager of the Cranbourne venue, said staff and members remained deeply disappointed with the way the sale has been conducted.
“We’re expecting to be thrown out on our butts in a couple of months’ time,” she said.
Mr Wells said he understood staff’s anxiety about losing their jobs, but said that once the contracts are signed, staff retention is expected to be included in that.
“One of the things is the buyer is anxious to keep all staff on,” he said.
Ms Lester said staff had been told that the RSL had been sold to new owners, but no date for the transfer of business had been provided and no notice had been given of any planned redundancies.
“There’s been no confirmation that the new owners will honour the staff’s current employment contracts,” she said.
Staff have sent questions to RSL management and to the new owners but have received no further information.
They are concerned about their guaranteed length of employment with the new owners and what jobs they will be doing.
There are also questions around who will own –and potentially pay out – staff entitlements.
Ms Lester said staff are also keen to know the timeline of the sale and for the construction or finding of a new home for Cranbourne RSL, both of which are yet to be confirmed with them.
All defence force memorabilia at Cranbourne is to be put in to storage after the venue’s closure, and Ms Lester said staff wanted to know whether it would be returned to a future Cranbourne RSL.
“All we really do know is [who] has bought us, we know nothing else,” she said, adding that members had not yet been informed of the details of the sale.
“It’s a travesty. As we stand today, nearly five months on from that initial meeting in January, we still know nothing,” Ms Lester said.
She said staff were stressed and concerned they would lose their jobs under the new owners, with no guarantees or assurances yet provided by the new managers.
Ms Lester said it was unclear whether the members would continue visiting the site once it transferred to its new owners.
“I think that would depend on the staff,” she said, stressing that staff and members at Cranbourne saw themselves as one big family, working for an organisation with purpose.
Mr Wells said the Cranbourne business has been running unsustainably, meaning it had to be sold.
“It’s broke now,” he said of Cranbourne RSL.
“If it was a separate business, it would’ve been trading insolvent for five or six years.
“Dandenong members have subsidised Cranbourne by about $11 million over 11 years. It has never turned a profit in the 11 years we have had it.
“It’s getting to the point where it was threatening Dandenong’s survival as well. You’ve got to be realistic.”
Ms Lester said staff and members felt that their battle to save the RSL had been to no avail.
“We didn’t change the outcome one iota,” she said.
“[Dandenong] hasn’t viewed us as a sub branch…they’ve seen us as an asset they need to get rid of with no consideration for members or staff.”
But Mr Wells insisted that the people of Cranbourne were viewed “as part of our operation”.
“We understand their issues and are working desperately to look after them as well as we can,” he said.
“We don’t want to dump these people, we want to look after them. It’s not the RSL way to get rid of people doing the right thing by you. We’ve got a soft heart.”
Ms Lester said she had contacted Holt MP Anthony Byrne and Cranbourne MP Pauline Richards for support and assistance.
In a statement, Mr Holt’s office told Star News he had “been in contact with all parties involved with the sale”.
The statement said he had worked with those involved to ensure the new owners can continue to employ RSL staff for around 18 months after the sale, and to ensure an appropriate new home for the RSL is found.
“Mr Byrne has been given guarantees that the Cranbourne RSL will have a permanent base and that all staff will be looked after appropriately,” the statement said.
“Mr Byrne has emphasised that it is important to give staff and those affected regular updates on the progress of the sale of the building.
“Mr Byrne has been advised by president John Wells [that] the staff will be kept on pro tem and that the facility will continue to operate pretty much as it is for ‘about eighteen months’. Staff entitlements to leave, etc, are banked and have been so for years.”
A Victorian Government spokesperson said the State Government had reached out to Mr Wells to discuss the future requirements of the Dandenong/Cranbourne RSL.
“While the management of RSL venues is a matter for RSL Victoria and their sub-branches, Dandenong/Cranbourne RSL Sub Branch has advised that they fully intend to maintain a presence in the Cranbourne area, as they continue to deliver their welfare programs.
“We’ll continue to work with RSL Victoria to ensure the welfare needs of veterans are met.”
