All of us here at WUNCRA believe that the NCRA Board of Directors has received a MANDATE from its MEMBERSHIP for major changes by resoundingly voting down the $50 dues increase.
Some of the reasons behind the negative vote that we’ve heard about are:
NUMBER 1: The dissolution of the STRONG Committee that has fought so hard against the biggest threat facing STENOGRAPHERS in the last century.
NUMBER 2: The installation as president of NCRA of a RETIRED reporter that no longer has skin in the game and has REALLY BAD ideas for the future of the organization. Why would he even want to remain in the position when the majority does not want him there?
NUMBER 3: Many members are offended by the apparent flippant, “gotcha” attitude of the Executive Director at the business meeting over the issues of the dissolution of the STRONG Committee, the desire for more financial transparency of the organization, and the voluntary resignation of the current president.
NUMBER 4: The same old, same old people at the business meeting that still have TOO MUCH say in the organization. One past president is chair of the Constitution & Bylaws Committee and it is time to for them to leave. Their little tweaks to the C&B are chipping away at the membership’s ability to bring important issues forward. The latest “innocuous” C&B tweak requires anyone asking for an amendment to the C&B to have 15 members’ signatures instead of three. Why is that so important that the C&B had to be changed? That past president also actually “called the question” on the Petition before those issues were fully vetted by members at the business meeting, causing a long diversion because the folks running the meeting couldn’t get their acts together to figure out how to count the vote. One member wrote that if they heard “yee-haw” at the business meeting one more time they would “blow a fuse.” And yet another past president patronized a maker of a motion from the floor by saying that it was a good motion, but that it should go through the proper channels of the C&B Committee. SHUT UP, PAST PRESIDENTS! It is time to stop intimidating and to let the next generation’s voices to be heard!
We just received a note from a member that said that they don’t understand why the STRONG Committee can’t continue to do their VERY IMPORTANT work while the Government Relations Committee (GRT) begins their charges. “GRT” doesn’t seem so “great” to this member.
The BIG DEMAND continues to be for the RESIGNATIONS of the newly installed President AND the Executive Director.
Board of Directors, your fiduciary duties MUST BE to the members that YOU represent!
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to all of the NCRA members that you know so that they know that the unnecessary divisiveness still continues at NCRA.
P.P.S. We’ve been asked if a Go Fund Me has been set up for the diversion of the $50 dues increase to the STRONG Committee so that they continue on with their work.
P.P.P.S. Another question was asked about whether NCRA received a big donation from a 1-800 company that uses digital/AI tech to buy themselves back into the organization. We believe that NCRA should require the 1-800s to sign a statement that they do not use digital/AI tech if they want to be involved in NCRA, and that statement should be published to membership.