Grievance Policy Test Drive, Our Verdict: Epic Fail!

We have received a response to our formal grievance (A Moderation Mess). I can't verify this by having a look in the minutes (The Saga of the Minutes), but we will take it that the response reflects MFS Committee handling of the grievance under the grievance policy.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Based on our test drive, the society's grievance policy is a sham. Maybe it was designed to be used against members, and not by members against decisions of MFS Committee, who can say.

The MFS Committee's response to my grievance against them, was to say that they have reviewed their own decision and decided it was correct. Well, they would, wouldn't they?

They restated their unsubstantiated story of complaints about my postings to MFS announce (and presumably no complaints about others who are allowed to use MFS Announce without problems).

This committee appears totally unaware of the rules of natural justice referred to in the Associations Incorporation Act. Everyone is entitled to a fair and independent hearing, and to confront their accusers. What are these contrived complaints and who is said to have made them? Where is the independent panel to decide on my complaint of MFS Committee abuse of power for vindictive purposes? Is the panel really the MFS Committee itself? If so, the grievance process is a sham.

Their second reason for deciding their own decision was correct was that they don't like me expressing my opinion on my blog. This is even more indefensible, messing up my use of MFS Announce as revenge for me writing this blog. It appears to me to be an abuse of power.

Again, they quote complaints about this blog that they allege they have received, with no substantiation. I have heard no complaints from others outside the MFS Committee about either my use of MFS Announce or my blog. I have had some comments published on my blog disagreeing with this or that that I wrote but none recently in spite of high readership numbers. I encourage polite comments and contrary views on my blog, in the interests of open discussion.

The MFS Committee call sending out event announcements with reminders closer to the time "overloading". Again a baseless complaint obviously contrived to convince themselves they are right, and a statistical count of announcements shows that we are very low on overall message count, and about in the middle for number of reminders per event. Folks with busy lives like a reminder a few days before the event.

They also state as a reason "The announce list is for information of events, not for baseless accusations". Who could disagree, but talk about setting up a straw man and then knocking it down, this reason is the most baseless I have ever seen.

I requested access to the list of who is moderated and who is not, under Rule 40 (The records, books and other documents of the society shall be open to inspection). I received a general answer that did not provide the list.

The MFS Committee have moved the date of the AGM to a week later this year, to a date that is when we will be away at the Bush Dancers Bendigo Bivouac. So, I leave it to those who are in town to think about the problems that lie behind this mess, and to realise that the best solution is a brand new committee of ten. What are you going to do?

Regards

Lance

The Saga of the Minutes

"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."

"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything."

"But the plans were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

I have heard that MFS Committee have decided that their minutes will not be made available to members apart from in a book in someone's house. It must be nice living in 1991. I must write them a letter some time, if I can find my quill pen and parchment. At a time when everyone else is using email and the web, I don't have time to drive to someone's house every month to see the minutes of our committee's meetings.

So, I can't verify this by having a look in the minutes, but I have seen a couple of references so I guess our committee has done it again. The minutes are not the committee's secret diary, they are part of their accountability to members.

Abysmal, but there is no volunteer ombudsman, so your only recourse is to elect a better committee next time. Maybe you should stand?  

Moderation Mess Ctd(2)

The Lakesea bush dancers' weekend at the coast was a lovely weekend of bush walking and bush dancing, and other activities of folk's own choice like cycling and practising for the upcoming Scottish ball. Everyone had a great time and it is on again next year, all being well, on the Winter Solstice weekend of 21 June 2014. There are some pics and videos at http://dance.pcug.org.au/new.htm

We arrived home to find no improvement in the ongoing saga of the MFS Announce moderation mess. There in our inbox was the message that we had sent out the Sunday just over a week before, about the weekend that we just returned from (better late than never, well not really in this case) and another of our messages about Wongawilli that had been languishing who knows where. Intriguingly, the latter message was sent to MFS Announce as if it was not from us, but from the control person. I don't know how she managed to forward a message that was sent to MFS Announce from her own email account, and I don't know why she thinks I would want my messages to appear as if coming from her? I have written asking for an explanation.

There was also a pleasant enough email from the control person explaining some of the reasons behind previous delays. But she is in denial about the real reason, and that is the unfair and indefensible change to my status on MFS Announce. The reasons given so far are alleged but unsubstantiated complaints and a dislike of me expressing my opinion in this blog. Contrived reasons. My point is that, like all other regular contributors that are MFS members, we should not be relying on the health and availability of the control person or anyone else for the service to work. The ongoing campaign of harassment and abuse of power arising (I think) from a dislike of me expressing my opinion on this blog means that I am not interested in pleasantries - I want action and I want it now!

Moderation Mess Ctd

“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.”

― Bruce Coville

Well we emailed again early this morning, to all the MFS Committee again. We know they have deliberately and unfairly moderated us for their own reasons and caused us abysmal service but this is ridiculous.

We asked "Has anyone rung [the control person] to see if she is ok? Is anyone even reading their emails? What's going on?". No acknowledgement and no response.

So, we emailed again just before 11am, pointing out that it was literally the eleventh hour for the announcement, and asking the question "Does anyone take their responsibility to represent members seriously? What is happening?"

A couple of hours later the message finally went out. Not the item written for MFS Announce but a copy of a similar item from another list. No apology for the delay, but at least someone responded. Our responder advised us that she had phoned [the control person] and the latter's computer was out, but everyone knows about the weekend so it didn't matter. We think we are the best ones to make judgements about our publicity and its timing, and that this could have been an urgent message about a change of venue or cancellation and we would be sending it to the same black hole.

It is the change from our unmoderated status that always worked fine with no incident, to a moderated status that seems to be badly managed with a poor level of service, that is the problem.

Apparently [the control person] is the only person that can control our postings. Our responder suggested that we should have rung [the control person].

I am sure noone would want an angry member phoning them every time they don't do their self-appointed and insulting job, and pointing out the offence caused by her actions. That would be every time and would lead to a heated exchange that wouldn't solve anything. They would just become more entrenched in their reprehensible position. "They just don't get it" I'm afraid.

And how ridiculous if a service that used to work faultlessly involved us (and only us) telephoning for a "by-your-leave" each time we send information to members?

Well it is good that one person took the trouble to find out what the problem was this time, and we appreciate that. I am sure that if they hadn't, then this would have been just be another message in the MFS Announce black hole. But what about the other office bearers and committee members? Do they have any input or engagement in representing members' interests? What is going on?

The Moderation Mess

Moderation Mess

Well it is now late Wednesday and our item sent to MFS Announce last Sunday hasn't seen the light of day. Three items for non-MFS events have gone out since then, including one that is on the same night as an MFS dance, and two other announcements. It seems that hard working MFS members like us come last.

We have asked MFS Committee what has happened to our MFS Announce item, no acknowledgement and no response. We sent it to all on the committee so we know it isn't languishing in any particular inbox waiting to be forwarded.

We have sent off our grievance to MFS Committee, no acknowledgement and no response (apart from one MFS Committee member advising that he is no longer on the committee). I guess that makes it a committee of six out of ten - is that legal?

You may be curious about the missing item, so here it is:

Good afternoon folks

Feel like a weekend at the coast bush dancing to live music, walking on the beach and in the National Park.

Why not book now and join in the fun?

Cabins are just $125 per night, ( each cabin can take up to 4 folks) and you can bring your caravan or just camp.

There will be bush dancing to live on both Friday and Saturday nights with walking on beach and in the National Park.

There will be great food, great friendship and great fun for all.

Why not read all about this great weekend at

http://mfs.org.au/wiki/index.php/Bush_Dancers_Weekend_Away

and ring Lakesea Caravan Park to make your booking.

Looking forward to seeing you there

Barbara and Lance Court

02 6161 2426

14th July 2013

Cheers

Lance

A Moderation Mess

MFS Announce is a mailing list that allows event announcements to be sent to Monaro Folk Society  members and those with similar interests. It used to be a reliable service with predictable results. Now it is impossible to know if and when our announcements will be sent out. Barbara and I have had announcements deleted because someone wrongly thought they were duplicates and deleted them without consultation or notification. All announcements are delayed unreasonably compared to the previous service. Dance publicity has been sent out too late, and on other occasions we have had to send belated emails to our lists because we have found out about the failure of MFS-Announce management.

Checking on a service that used to be reliable and needing no checking is onerous, made worse because we do not get our announcements back to our originating address, and we get no notification about whether or not they have been forwarded.

Even as I write, my blood pressure is rising as I see other folks' posts going out to MFS Announce while our post about Lakesea this weekend languishes who-knows-where. Maybe the "moderator" is sick or busy, but I contend that it is wrong for our posts to depend on someone else's availability.

So, what has caused this problem? It appears that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed our status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied. Someone has changed us from an unmoderated that always worked fine with no incident, to a moderated status that seems to be badly managed with a poor level of service.

And what to do about it? As each message has been delayed, I have thought long and hard about the options. I could walk away, as so many other good folk have done, but I would be walking away from something that I own as a member. I could revive my own substantial but now a little out of date "Canberra Dance News" email list. I could ring someone and ask them to do their self-appointed and pointless "job", but you can tell from my tone that this is a bad idea that will lead to an angry exchange every time.

So, I have decided to lodge a formal grievance, arising from my perception that my treatment by the MFS Committee has not been fair and respectful.

My grievance is that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed my status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied, and in circumstances that suggest misuse of power. This action appears to me to be aimed at harassing me and causing me offence, rather than to be based on any defensible reason. This change has had a deleterious affect on my legitimate publicity timing capabilities, and therefore is against the interests of members. It is also an insult to moderate me when others with no more integrity than me appear, based on the evidence available to me, to be unmoderated.

Please come back in a week or so, and I will post an update on this unfolding drama, and test-drive of the MFS grievance procedures, if I can.

L

“Welcome to Canberra 2013”

Were you at the “Welcome to Canberra 2013” bush dance at the Yarralumla Woolshed last night? What did you think?

I thought it was a fantastic night, with excellent dance music from the Bush Capital Band and a great crowd of dancers. The crowd numbers were up because of support from National Folk Festival volunteers and lots of newcomers and groups, and even groups of newcomers.

I have often said that the newest dancer is the most important person in the hall. They have the most to learn, and they are our future. And that was certainly apparent last night with the buzz of excitement that comes with lots of new folk. Newcomers bring fresh energy, new ideas, greater diversity, more dancers, more volunteers and more possibilities for promotion of bush dancing. Newcomers also shake us up and keep us on our toes. Newcomers represent growth.

Our caller Beryl not only provided an excellent program and calling but also imparted a little “corporate knowledge”, because it is the centenary of Canberra and a time to reflect on history, and because of the interest provided for old and new dancers alike by these little snippets.

Beryl reflected on the times when crowds were more like 300 dancers and they had to close the doors to latecomers when the house was full. Actually I have heard of recent (non-Monaro Folk Society) bush dances at the Yarralumla Woolshed attracting many more than that from around Australia, but of course they have to take it in turns to dance.

Judging by last night many in the crowd enjoy socialising and just chatting as well as dancing. With a big party crowd, sharing the dance floor is a good solution to over-crowding.

The dance floor was pleasantly filled last night, but nothing like the over-crowding that would follow from a crowd of 300. Beryl recalled seeing the power lines to the Woolshed jiggling to and fro as the Woolshed swayed to the dancing beat. I have often heard stories of the Woolshed moving on its stumps, and vaguely recollect the feeling, something unheard of in our risk averse times.

It was such a delightful night with such pleasant associations, that our caller was actually moved to tears by a particularly beautiful waltz number from the band, and the swirling patterns on the floor as viewed from the stage.

What a night to remember. It's great to see the new End of Month Dance Organising Team not just taking over the baton now that Barbara and I have retired, but extending the bush dancing calendar with new events like the “Welcome to Canberra 2013” bush dance.

When I asked folk last night how they found out about the event, the answer was often “word of mouth”. How many times do you hear someone say "Oh I saw a great movie, you have to go see it"? And how many times do you hear someone say "Oh I went to a great dance, you have to come try it"? If you enjoy a dance, or if you enjoy dancing, playing or helping, why not tell your friends? Just as you would if you enjoy a movie. We don't need to "convert" anybody, all we have to do is invite them to give it a try and they'll say things like "this is great, why didn't anyone tell us about it sooner?" and they'll come back for more.

Cheers

Lance