When you think of the size of an organization, you think in terms of annual budget and the number of members it has. NCRA's budget is about $7.8 million and it has about 20,000 members, down from around 33,000 in the mid '90's. That's a pretty hefty budget and a pretty significant downturn in the number of members over the past 13 or 14 years.
From time to time, it seems about every three to four years, a proposed amendment is submitted to NCRA to permit non-stenographic reporters to become Participating or Registered members, with the right to vote, and if they become Registered Members, the right to run for and hold office. My opponent in the race for secretary-treasurer of NCRA was one of the reporters who submitted the first proposed amendment to permit voice writers to become full-fledged members of NCRA.
The annual budget for the voice writers national association in 2008 was about $125,000, and for AAERT, their budget was about $30,000. Who would benefit if members of those associations became members of NCRA? And how much would it cost NCRA in terms of setting up programs for them? And how much would it cost in terms of the potential decline in membership?
Size does matter, and we should be using what size we have left to promote stenographic reporters. Our members have spoken three times in the last eight years that they do not want non-stenographic folks to become members. It's time to listen to them, don't you think?
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Yes, it is time to listen to them!
ReplyDeleteBruce,
ReplyDeleteYour opponent is not, and has not brought up anything about VW in his race for Secretary-Treasurer. You should focus on the facts of what it takes to hold that office. He's shown us how capable he is and will continue to be in that role. Can you explain why you think you're the better candidate? Bringing up something that Jason hasn't touched on since the first defeat (and I only remember two, not three) isn't fair.
I want the S-T to be competent in his position as Jason has proven, not a springboard to the office of presidency which is what your goal is as you have stated time and time again. How much time will you put into being S-T if your focus is "I want to be prez again"? I don't think that's quite what this membership deserves. Do you?
Lillian Freiler, RMR
Hello, Lillian. Good to hear from you. However, there are a few things in your post that are not quite accurate, so I'd like to comment on them.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, let me say that I can bring up anything I would like to bring up during the election campaign. Can you imagine a politician being told that they are not permitted to talk about issues in their campaign just because the opposition is not talking about them? That would be really funny.
Jason did bring the first amendment for permitting voice writers to be members of NCRA. You are saying he hasn't brought it up in this campaign, but that doesn't make any difference. I have seen posts of his in other places that indicate he thinks folks who "do what we do" should be members of our organization.
And perhaps you have forgotten, but last year there was a proposed amendment to let the videographers in as Registered Members, so that's twice for the voice writers and once for the videographers, and to my count, that's three times the membership has said no.
You ask the question how much time I'll spend being the secretary-treasurer if I get elected. Are you serious? Why don't you ask any court reporter anywhere if they think I would give it my all. I think I'll let you find out the answere that way, although I'm sure you already know the answer. And I don't think I'll let you tell me today what I can talk about and how good I'll be if I'm elected to the position.
The reason I am running for an officer position is because I believe there should be someone like me on the Executive Committee, which is composed of the officers and the Executive Director. Since the board blocked me from running for any other officer position, I am running for secretary-treasurer. After having served my profession and the Association for 37 years, I think I should be able to do that without hearing it from you. You shouldn't be so upset that I'm running against your friend Jason.
And how does Jason feel about the Executive Director position being paid over $360,000 a year, plus an amount that is put into his retirement account, at a time when the membership numbers are going downhill? That's more than the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I know Jason has tried to say in the past that the numbers are down because of the recession, which is true to some extent, but the numbers have been going down for years.
Have a great day.
Declining membership, insane/absurd ED salary, competing technology being invited in, those all sound scary. Your time commitment is hardly at issue here in this discussion. There seem to be much larger issues at hand - Good Luck!!
ReplyDeleteHow does NCRA defend against this? I say it can't. http://vimeo.com/29693686
ReplyDelete