Coming at this for the first time (I tend not to follow WMUKwiki these days), I have to say I'm with Chris on this one; the COI policy refers to "organisations funded by Wikimedia UK or Wikimedia movement organisations", rather than the more nebulous concept of "partner organisations", and CIPR hasn't received money from us that I know of.
Sure, having a meaningful discussion about our involvement with PR organisations, and the conflicts that might arise with someone working in that industry, is worth having - but this sort of challenge doesn't seem to be engaging with that question, and seems to be actively going off after red herrings.
(And i thought we'd put governance debates behind us, at least for a while...)
Andrew.
On 3 October 2013 16:10, Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Fae,
Happy to clarify that that Alastair informed the Board of his new job on 28 August, not - as you have presented elsewhere as fact - after 11 September. There is of course no requirement that Trustees disclose to the Board any job opportunity they are pursuing.
You have brought up the subject of whether this is "employment connected to the movement" in terms of our Conflict of Interest Policy. The relevant part of the policy reads:
"Trustees should not seek or accept any post or form of remuneration from organisations funded by Wikimedia UK or Wikimedia movement organisations for a period of six months after they have been a member of the board, without the express permission of the board." As CIPR is not funded by Wikimedia UK or any other Wikimedia movement organisation this is not relevant. We took the right decision last year in saying trustees in effect have to choose between serving on the Board and working within the Wikimedia movement but this does not extend to work in other spheres.
I hope this clarifies matters.
Regards,
Chris
On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 3:44 PM, Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
On the WMUK water cooler I have asked:[1]
- "In terms of timing, Alastair, nor any other member of the board,
has yet confirmed in writing exactly when he first informed the board about accepting the job." @26 September 2013
- "What was the date of the first email to the board from Alastair
bringing up the issue of his relationship with CIPR as a potential conflict of loyalties?" @2 October 2013
I am increasingly concerned that no trustee is willing to openly share a date of an email from Alastair with the members of the charity, or instead explain that the board of trustees were made aware of Alastair's conflict of loyalties only after CIPR made public announcements, or after it was posted on Wikipediocracy and then raised for their attention, possibly not by Alastair. It should not take more than a week to answer this question, especially when so many other prompt replies to selected parts of the discussion have been made by the board.
Chris Keating as the Chairman of the charity stated that this assertion is factually inaccurate: "Alastair failed to declare his conflict of loyalties to either the board or the membership until immediately after a public fuss about it was made on Wikipediocracy. Alastair knew about this conflict of loyalties before running to be a trustee at the AGM, he failed to discuss it with the board of trustees then or declare it so that members voting had the full facts." but despite being quick to reply on other issues, has yet to provide demonstrable facts to show what parts of this assertion are inaccurate.
In terms of an indisputable timeline:
- CIPR publicly became a working partner with WMUK during 2011/2012,
making a presentation at the 2012 AGM
- Alastair was running for the CIPR job before the AGM
- Alastair became a WMUK trustee on 8 June 2013 at the AGM
- CIPR made a public announcement of Alastair's becoming their CEO on
27 August 2013
- the thread on Wikipediocracy was started on 10 September 2013
- Alastair publicly declared his conflict of loyalties the day
afterwards, 11 September 2013
- no provision has been made for the conventional 6 month grace period
that should pass between being a trustee of WMUK and taking paid employment with a partner of the charity as has been enforced for other trustees in the past[2]
With relatively few active members of the charity it falls to the same old hands to raise questions for the board about their serious concerns, or to provide feedback and context. This would be a good time to have other members contribute on the Water cooler with varying viewpoints.
Links:
https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Water_cooler#Alastair_has_provided_a_full... 2. https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/COI#Employment_related_to_the_Charity
Thanks, Fae -- faewik@gmail.com http://j.mp/faewm
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