volunteers pt2

caroline said:
don't you believe it sunshine... (gb that is) Dare I be the one that points out that ahem, actually, employment legislation is increasingly being applied to 'volunteer' jobs - cf. http://www.yourrights.org.uk/your-rights/chapters/rights-of-workers/claims/who-is-protected-by-employment-law.shtml and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1463794,00.htmli hate to be a harbinger of doom but....trustees should beware, it only takes one nutter....


oh i am so not that nutter :)
i have never had a dispute with greenbelt that i couldn't resolve by talking to them

but it is an interesting point that you raise ... and i guess if i treat the work with the utmost respect then the least i could expect is the same respect back blah blah

... i think it is an interesting area of life ... volunteering i mean ... i think it was andy t who once posted a thoguth provoking note on the GB office wall 'if we were given a nillion pounds tomorrow would we still use volunteers?' ... never felt i could answer that properly ... as someone who does a lot of volunteer work and also end up working with and managing a lot of volunteers it does make me question if the money was there would i not just pay staff

there is the worker being worth his wage argument ... but maybe by pating people all you get is the right to order them/tell them to do stuff or they do stuff because you're the boss ... is it possible that we have to deploy better skills to work with volunteers ... the concept of teamwork is more paramount and maybe a bit more respect for what people are doing ... after all they could be anywhere else they don't have to be there helping

greenbelt is unique as it relies on so many to do so much ... and often way beyond the call of duty ... i guess it happens in many spheres of life where people believe in something and want to make it happen the one thing they can give is their time and skills

maybe greenbelt isn't so unusual ... it feels unusual ... but maybe someobody right now is saying the same kinda of stuff about some small facist underground magazine charity

i know it always used to blow me away how the 20+ kids who worked for me in the GB merchandise store would not know each other or us before they arrived ... but would work long hours way beyond what was agreed ... look after each other and us and never refuse to help with anything ... and all i could ever do to show them how much we appreciated it was just to say thank you a lot ... which seemed inadequate after all they had done.