Re: Bylaw amendment proposal discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 1:32 am
Hello again Darren,
With respect to your proposition about FULL unobstructed access to all bank accounts, statements, forms and receipts; I don't know where to start on this. To be honest, I'm not really against this because otherwise, it would seem like I am hiding things. That's not really who I want to be. Nonetheless here are some issues I have with this proposition:
Bank accounts:
- We have 1 business account, 7 credit cards, 1 GIC and a partridge in a pear tree. If someone else besides myself and the trustees had access to the bank account... not much would probably happen! You would just have access to the account activity and statements. I use to save all of this stuff on paper and now just electronically on a cloud service. But someone could easily change the banking password on me and lock it out. Someone could also pose as me and potentially action something through our bank. So now 445 pilots get to do this anytime they ask? Would you give your bank account info away to 445 of your closest friends? Clearly you're not asking for this though, you're asking for:
Visa Statements:
- This is not in principle an unreasonable ask. Does it border on privacy issues... a little but what about the confidentiality of our individual members. Much of the issues we deal with are confidential and there is spending around that. If we are going to defend a person or plan strategically for our group, we actually need to eat too. What would you do with these statements? My guess is that you would question our judgement. And that's ok. You should! But now 445 people get to ask questions ceaselessly about what we were doing when we ate this meal on such and such a day: "Oh I was just defending Bob, he failed his PPC.", "Oh Larry was accused of harassment in Cancun." "Oh someone thought Angela was drinking past 12 hours". Do all the members of the UNION get to know about Bob, Larry and Angela's bad day? Well they do now with your proposition.
Forms and Original Receipts:
- I have all those. A quick summary of my drive today shows 342 folders with 2,111 files. And that's just since May 2019. The paper stuff from before that time is in my basement. If I give you access to the drive and everyone else access, how do I know you won't delete them or alter the files.... even by accident. If I send you all the paper in the mail and it gets lost, its gone for good. The whole history. If you lose it, even worse for you. If you lose even one receipt that will chap my ass. But maybe I could photocopy them for ya? Or take pictures and text you them? I do not have the time for that. That is unreasonably onerous. And if 445 people ask me to do that I will go postal. At the very least, I will use a PMTG day. And also, these forms are inextricably linked to confidentiality because they directly have peoples names on them to explain what the expenses were for. So now, everyone gets that info.
So I am not going to propose your amendment, but I know why you're suggesting it and although philosophically I agree with you, pragmatically I do not. It is the trustees who get this privilege. The trustees in my opinion have the most important job in the Union not just because they are a check and balance on the minutia of the spending but because we literally trust them to be eternally confidential on peoples issues and problems that arise from expenses they incur to the Union.
Thanks Darren for your pressing inquiry, I actually appreciate people that go against the grain and ask the hard questions. I believe in that! I hope this helps answer that specific problem which I know you have asked often.
Mike Busuttil
With respect to your proposition about FULL unobstructed access to all bank accounts, statements, forms and receipts; I don't know where to start on this. To be honest, I'm not really against this because otherwise, it would seem like I am hiding things. That's not really who I want to be. Nonetheless here are some issues I have with this proposition:
Bank accounts:
- We have 1 business account, 7 credit cards, 1 GIC and a partridge in a pear tree. If someone else besides myself and the trustees had access to the bank account... not much would probably happen! You would just have access to the account activity and statements. I use to save all of this stuff on paper and now just electronically on a cloud service. But someone could easily change the banking password on me and lock it out. Someone could also pose as me and potentially action something through our bank. So now 445 pilots get to do this anytime they ask? Would you give your bank account info away to 445 of your closest friends? Clearly you're not asking for this though, you're asking for:
Visa Statements:
- This is not in principle an unreasonable ask. Does it border on privacy issues... a little but what about the confidentiality of our individual members. Much of the issues we deal with are confidential and there is spending around that. If we are going to defend a person or plan strategically for our group, we actually need to eat too. What would you do with these statements? My guess is that you would question our judgement. And that's ok. You should! But now 445 people get to ask questions ceaselessly about what we were doing when we ate this meal on such and such a day: "Oh I was just defending Bob, he failed his PPC.", "Oh Larry was accused of harassment in Cancun." "Oh someone thought Angela was drinking past 12 hours". Do all the members of the UNION get to know about Bob, Larry and Angela's bad day? Well they do now with your proposition.
Forms and Original Receipts:
- I have all those. A quick summary of my drive today shows 342 folders with 2,111 files. And that's just since May 2019. The paper stuff from before that time is in my basement. If I give you access to the drive and everyone else access, how do I know you won't delete them or alter the files.... even by accident. If I send you all the paper in the mail and it gets lost, its gone for good. The whole history. If you lose it, even worse for you. If you lose even one receipt that will chap my ass. But maybe I could photocopy them for ya? Or take pictures and text you them? I do not have the time for that. That is unreasonably onerous. And if 445 people ask me to do that I will go postal. At the very least, I will use a PMTG day. And also, these forms are inextricably linked to confidentiality because they directly have peoples names on them to explain what the expenses were for. So now, everyone gets that info.
So I am not going to propose your amendment, but I know why you're suggesting it and although philosophically I agree with you, pragmatically I do not. It is the trustees who get this privilege. The trustees in my opinion have the most important job in the Union not just because they are a check and balance on the minutia of the spending but because we literally trust them to be eternally confidential on peoples issues and problems that arise from expenses they incur to the Union.
Thanks Darren for your pressing inquiry, I actually appreciate people that go against the grain and ask the hard questions. I believe in that! I hope this helps answer that specific problem which I know you have asked often.
Mike Busuttil