At the latest ACAB AGM we voted to propose the following to Cooperation Birmingham. ACAB was set up to run leftist sports projects several years ago and has since then mainly been running Punch Up, a community combat sports club training weekly. Members have also arranged bike rides and climbing sessions. I am proposing this for a few reasons:
- Strengthen the financial security of Athletic Community Action Birmingham and Cooperation Birmingham to create long-term organising power
- Simplify payment of subs for people who are members of both organisations
- Promote political organisation to those interested in grassroots sport and vice versa
- Provide a model for other organisations that might want to integrate in future
- Allow ACAB to use CB tech infrastructure for asynchronous comms & decision making
- Preserve current autonomy of ACAB
- Build activity that we can capitalise on within CB to expand our influence
- Politicise ACAB
- Give more people experience of federated / decentralised organisations & principles
I consider this a large decision so the requirements are:
- Consensus voting: addressing any concerns.
- Input sought from all co-op members who might be affected
- Votes can be in favour, against, abstain (stand aside) or block.
- One member, one vote.
- Process continues until there are less than 2 blocks and less than 2 votes against.
Obviously it should be noted that this proposal can only go ahead if the corresponding proposal to modify the organisation structure passes: Proposal: adopt a four level organisation model - #2. Otherwise there is simply no way for an organisation like ACAB to become part of CB.
Here is the proposal:
Organisational
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ACAB becomes the ‘autonomous sports division’ of Cooperation Birmingham
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All current ACAB members must become contributors to the Cooperation Birmingham Open Collective, if they are not already: https://opencollective.com/cooperation-birmingham
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If they are already contributors then ACAB members are encouraged to increase their monthly Open Collective contributions by the amount they currently pay to ACAB. ie. if currently paying £5 to Cooperation Birmingham and £15 to ACAB, the member should increase their Open Collective contribution to £20 and cancel their standing order to the ACAB account.
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An ACAB section will be set up on the CB forum for discussions and decisions. Only ACAB members have posting privileges but all CB members may view
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Membership of ACAB is defined by being a contributor to Cooperation Birmingham, and a user on the CB forum who has been added to the ACAB section by an administrator.
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All elected positions remain as they currently are
Financial
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Current ACAB funds are paid into the CB Open Collective as a one-off donation.
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Future funds raised from session fees are paid into the Open Collective on a quarterly basis.
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Initial funds are ringfenced for ACAB use and used preferentially until exhausted (ie. no further money granted from CB general funds until all historic funds have been spent)
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All CB members paying subs (at any rate) are entitled to attend Punch Up sessions and any future ACAB sport sessions without paying a session fee
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Infrequent attendees, visitors, newcomers, those not wanting to join CB (etc) are still able to just pay the session fee, which will be collected by the ACAB treasurer (in cash or by bank transfer). They are not able to participate in decision making.
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Future funds generated from session fees, event fundraising (etc) go into general CB funds to be allocated for any use by a CB proposal
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When more money is needed in future from general CB funds, ACAB members may choose either to make a request for funds to be ringfenced as a general ACAB budget, or propose that an individual or ongoing expense is paid directly. eg. a proposal could be made for a grant of £1000 annually for use as the division sees fit, or for £160 to be paid to the venue monthly fr room hire.
Decision making
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All decisions made previously stand
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Future decisions follow the CB decision making process with some additions/variations:
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Divisional autonomy - all decisions affecting the division alone (ie. not impacting the other activities of CB or conflicting with other CB decisions, principles, practices etc.) are made only by members of the division.
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Post-session and Signal/Whatsapp groups have authority to make small and medium decisions without needing to post them on the forum first.
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Medium decisions should however be reported on the forum by the secretary for accountability and transparency purposes.
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Large decisions must be posted on the forum to allow members not present to have a say. If votes are taken in person as well then these must be collated with forum votes to make a final tally
Deadline: 1 month (28th Sept)