Talk:Movement Charter/Drafting Committee/Announcement 2021 07 27

Why allowance?

I wonder who thought that Members will receive an allowance to offset participation costs. It is US$100 every two months. was a good idea?

It might be different in other parts of the world, but in Western Europe 50 USD / month is not really sufficient to offset any costs. It is definitely not enough to pay for 5 hour / weeks of any qualified work (~2 USD / hour is below not just minimum wage but even poverty line). Even if I consider that I pay for less qualified work like household duties (e.g. ordering a cleaning company instead of cleaning my flat myself, or ordering ironing services instead of ironing shirts myself), this will not cover even the half of these costs.

At the same time, this allowance makes it a paid role. Which means people are getting a cash payment, unlike Wikimania scholarships where people get essentially free travel, hotel and meals but not cash. Unlike volunteering, paid roles are subjects to more scrutiny from the community (why am I working for WMF for money?), from affiliates (like disclosing financial relationship for governance and audit purposes) and from random trolls. And unlike volunteering where you are giving your time just because you care about something, here you are giving your time in exchange of a ridiculously low compensation.

In addition, in some cases it may be complex (e.g. need to declare this as a second job for the state for tax purposes), in some it might even be illegal (e.g. civil servants may be banned from receiving compensations from third parties). And declaring this in multiple places, be it for COI (employer, affiliate) or for legal (tax, social benefits) purposes, may well cost more than 50 USD / month.

Honestly this looks like such a bad idea that personally for me it is rather an argument not to participate than something positive — NickK (talk) 21:41, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

Mass message

@KVaidla (WMF) and Xeno (WMF): Want You use a Special:MassMessage? ✍️ Dušan Kreheľ (talk) 03:28, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Dušan Kreheľ: With the extended timeline we will be sending additional messages. Thank you for the suggestion! Xeno (WMF) (talk) 19:37, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

On what waiting we with that: CentralNotice/Request/Movement_Charter_Drafting_Committee_call_for_candidates. We have a last weekend before end of this drafting time. ✍️ Dušan Kreheľ (talk) 10:12, 10 September 2021 (UTC)