[TheThinkTank] Volunteers vs. Paid Staff

[Geoffrey B]

Contract work maybe...or employed labor...Thats a question for everyone at
bike shops, everywhere?

B. Pirate


On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 1:10 AM, Justin Morse <morse.justin at gmail.com>
wrote:

>   The paid vs. volunteer issue has become a little divisive here in
> Columbus, and I'm glad to see a thinktank thread concerning it. Reading the
> posts, and the description of the various workshops, has got me seeing, all
> over again, how may different people are trying to accomplish such similar
> things.
>   We're all-volunteer here at Third Hand Bike Co-op, and as a core
> volunteer, I'm sort of trying to put some kind of paid clerkships on the
> table. At least the idea, so far. Frankly, our core volunteer base is
> fragile, and as someone who has seen the organization go from a pile of
> abandoned bikes to a thriving community center, I'm nervous at the
> sustainability. Our co-op is currently a reincarnation of the old Third
> Hand, whose previous founders/members disbanded. For us (in my opinion), at
> the center of this issue, is the concept of sustainability. How can we
> create a community bike workshop fixture in our community? It seems that if
> a group of talented leaders can coordinate volunteers in such a way that it
> creates a base of people to fulfill the mission of their organization-
> awesome! That would be my first choice.
>   But from my perspective, here in Columbus, our volunteers too often
> silently groan under the weight of keeping open hours to meet the demands of
> the people of our city. It seems to take looking inwardly (at how the shop
> is running, functioning) as much as it takes looking outwardly (how to
> incorporate new potential supporters, volunteers, mechanics). And often we
> have to reassess what we're trying to do- Not be a used bike shop, but
> instead a community workshop/education facility.
>   On a side note, our BikeBike contigency (made up mostly of our core
> volunteers) has decided that we can't ride from Columbus to San Francisco
> (like we originally planned) this year because we'd probably have to close
> the shop for the time while we'd be gone. That said (and to simplify), I've
> come to feel that the issue has two major factors: what is the mission of
> your organization, and how can you best fulfill it? And what does the body
> (members/participants/volunteers) of your organization decide?
> And currently we don't do 'outside' workshops, so paying people to do that
> "extra" work has only barely come up. Though, when it did, it was touchy,
> and as I said, divisive.
> Justin Morse, Third Hand Bike Co-op in Columbus, Ohio
>
>
>
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