[TheThinkTank] Volunteers vs. Paid Staff, Bike Shop Empowerment

Mon Jun 23 14:22:32 PDT 2008

Do you pay your clerks? Hourly or other. How is the process of interview .
Are your mechanics paid?

Bike Pirates in canada is 100% VOLUNTEER, we are expanding a second space
and need insight.

On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 4:12 PM, kyle mckinley <bicirider at gmail.com> wrote:

> Without starting another firestorm of the pros and cons of paid versus
> unpaid core staff, I would generally reiterate my position that NOT
> compensating folks dramatically reduces the number and diversity of people
> that are interested in playing a central role to your organization.  Macho
> says that they aren't in a position to pay all of their staff all of the
> time. So how about some of the time? Bike Church Santa Cruz has a system in
> which, basically, every core member is expected to volunteer one shift per
> week (4 hours) and attend bi-weekly core meetings (unpaid). Anything on top
> of that is paid at a living wage ($15/hr) to the core member as an
> 'independent contractor'. It's slightly more complicated than that, but you
> get the idea. Almost all of the regular open-shop hours are thus staffed by
> volunteers, but all the behind the scenes stuff (finances, organizing,
> ordering, etc) is paid. Any core member is eligible to bill these hours,
> though there are consensed-on 'clerkships' who bottom-line areas of
> obligation (ordering clerk, finance clerk, tool-maintenance clerk, etc) .
> Finally, it helps ensure that we will be open consistently b/c during those
> times of the year (such as now) when a lot of core folks want to leave town
> for bike tours or whatever, the few remaining mechanics get nicely
> compensated for working multiple shifts during the week--and thus keeping
> the doors open.
> It isn't perfect, but it does keep there from being dramatic divisions
> within the collective, and it has proven to be a financially sensible route
> for compensation (the bike church is entirely funded without grants, and has
> put together a considerable nest-egg to whether potential crisis).
> As to the questions of 'policing' patrons of the shop... that might be
> beyond me. Finding ways to minimize chaos/ folks breaking their bikes and
> our tools without becoming authoritarian is a huge problem that I think all
> of our organizations deal with every day. I wouldn't want to ask anyone to
> wait outside, but I remember none-to-fondly what it was like when the bike
> church had only enough room for 4 bikes inside, and there were a dozen more
> flipped upside down wrenching in the parking lot. BICAS has a lot of square
> footage and a sizable paid staff, both of which obviate some of those
> problems, but the same things happen everywhere... Maybe this is a good
> topic for a workshop at BikeBike!...?....
> best,
> kyle
> bike church santa cruz---->BICAS tucson----->bike church santa cruz....
>
> On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 8:22 AM, Macho Philipovich <macho at resist.ca>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hey everyone.  We're trying to sort through a couple of issues at the shop
>> right now, and I'd like to see if any others have experiences with similar
>> situations that they could share.
>>
>> 1.  We like to keep as many open shop hours as our volunteer capacity will
>> allow, which doesn't leave much left for running other programs.  Our shop
>> is located in a poor part of town, and we're finding a lot of schools,
>> community centres, and immigrant organizations are asking us to run
>> workshops for kids.  The said community organizations, though, are often
>> willing to provide honoraria for this work.  In the past we've just had the
>> money donated back to the bike project, but now people who run the programs
>> are starting to keep it for themselves, and we're kind of feeling torn.  On
>> the one hand, partnering with community organizations so that kids can have
>> access to bikes and bike repair tools & skills is amazing, and is basically
>> why we exist, and giving our volunteers, most of whom are low-income, some
>> monetary compensation is great, especially since we are a very financially
>> stable shop.  On the other hand, there is also the concern that if
>> volunteers start to be paid, it will take them away from our open shop
>> hours, and leave other volunteers to do essentially the same work, only
>> without getting paid.  This could seemingly cause resentment, hard feelings,
>> and the general deterioration of our shop.  We're not, at this time, able to
>> or interested in paying all volunteer mechanics all of the time.  So this is
>> something we have to find a way to reasonably resolve.
>>
>> 2.  This question is especially directed at shops that view themselves as
>> committed to radical social change, but answers from anyone are welcome.
>>  We've just switched over from a "free-for-all" kind of setup where people
>> can waltz in to the shop, start wrenching away, and ask for help if anyone
>> is around to offer it, to our new setup where people need to sign in with a
>> greeter and if there are no available mechanics, they have to wait outside.
>>  This has almost eliminated the chaos and frustration that was until
>> recently a staple at the shop, but also has people worried.  We are starting
>> to feel like we are "policing" people and treating those who use the shop
>> with suspicion, and that the shop is starting to feel much more like a
>> regular liberal social work program or soup kitchen where there is a clear
>> divide between staff ("you've already had your one bowl of soup!") and
>> people fixing their bikes, rather than a space where different people are
>> welcome to make a meaningful contribution, and become empowered to be
>> invested in the space and take a leadership role.
>>
>> Has anyone experienced either of these things in their shop?  Any
>> thoughts?  Solutions?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Macho of the Bike Dump
>> http://bike-dump.ca
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> If an Easyrider rides easy, then a bicirider rides bicis
>
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