Clive Palmer's Coolum resort slashes staff

BILLIONAIRE Clive Palmer's Coolum resort is rolling out major staff cuts only months after he praised workers and awarded each of them a $500 bonus.
The premier Sunshine Coast resort today marks its first day free of ties with former manager Hyatt.
An expensive upgrade and brighter future is planned for the luxury tourism drawcard, but its previous workforce of 650 is being drastically scaled back.
Department sizes have been slashed and dozens of staff, some who have been with the property for more than two decades, made redundant.
The Courier-Mail understands 20 of the 30 housekeeping positions will go, along with four of the six full-time gardeners, eight laundry workers and five of 10 hotel housemen.
While the resort would not confirm the number of employees laid off, an angry ex-staffer said the combined total of casual and other workers to lose their incomes was "in the hundreds".
"How can Mr Palmer promise to do so much for the area and local economy and do this to us? It's going to hurt the community," he said.
Palmer Resort Coolum general manager Bill Schoch confirmed the business model was being restructured, but it was vital to the ongoing success of the operation.
Mr Schoch said all 50 of the resort's activities were being reviewed, but he said there still would be flexibility to cope with busier times.
"More people want to work here than there are jobs - that's our challenge," Mr Schoch said.
"The resort had been under external management for 23 years and when Professor Palmer bought the management rights back as a wholly Australian-owned enterprise, we inherited the previous structures and tiers.
"It's no surprise there needed to be restructuring and we are proceeding with that program."
Mr Schoch said today was "independence day" for the resort as the management agreement with Hyatt officially ended yesterday.
He said a "significant investment" had been made in a new computer system and "hundreds of thousands" of dollars would be spent on cart tracks to make the championship golf course weather-proof.
A major advertising campaign would begin mid-June, targeting traditional markets in Brisbane and Melbourne.
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