[Osmf-talk] Possible AoA Amendment #2: Your boss can't force you to vote a certain way

[Rory McCann (OSMF Board)]

Hello OSMF members,

To follow up from my email of 11th October 2020¹, here's a more detailed 
draft of a change to OSMF's Articles of Association² to prevent an OSMF 
member's employer from forcing a member to vote a certain way. Since the 
employer might not be an OSMF member, we can phrase it as “you can only 
be a member if you're free to vote”. We welcome your feedback.

Current Version:

12. No person shall become a member or associate member of the 
Foundation unless they
(1) have completed an application in a form approved by the directors;
(2) have paid the appropriate fee;
(3) have not previously been expelled from the Foundation;
(4) are not appealing a resolution to expel by the board;
(5) their membership account (if they have one) is not in arrears.

and

17. A person shall cease to be a member or an associate member (as the 
case may be) if:
(1) they die or cease to exist;
(2) they withdraw their membership (or associate membership) by giving 
the Foundation 7 days' notice in writing;
(3) their membership account is more than one year in arrears;
(4) the board resolves to expel them, subject to any successful appeal 
being made under these articles.


Possible New Version:

12. No person shall become a member or associate member of the 
Foundation unless they
(1) have completed an application in a form approved by the directors;
(2) have paid the appropriate fee;
(3) have not previously been expelled from the Foundation;
(4) are not appealing a resolution to expel by the board;
(5) their membership account (if they have one) is not in arrears++; and++
(6) are free to exercise their powers as a member (or associated member) 
  (e.g. voting on resolutions, or for the board of directors) according 
to their own desires, and are not contractually bound to vote a certain way.

and

17. A person shall cease to be a member or an associate member (as the 
case may be) if:
(1) they die or cease to exist;
(2) they withdraw their membership (or associate membership) by giving 
the Foundation 7 days' notice in writing;
(3) their membership account is more than one year in arrears;
(4) the board resolves to expel them, subject to any successful appeal 
being made under these articles;
(5) are no longer free to exercise their powers as a member (or 
associated member) (e.g. voting on resolutions, or for the board of 
directors) according to their own desires, and are not contractually 
bound to vote a certain way.


Combined Diff for hackmd.io:

12. No person shall become a member or associate member of the 
Foundation unless they
(1) have completed an application in a form approved by the directors;
(2) have paid the appropriate fee;
(3) have not previously been expelled from the Foundation;
(4) are not appealing a resolution to expel by the board; ~~and~~
(5) their membership account (if they have one) is not in arrears ~~.~~ 
++; and++
++(6) are free to exercise their powers as a member (or associated 
member)  (e.g. voting on resolutions, or for the board of directors) 
according to their own desires, and are not contractually bound to vote 
a certain way.++

and

17. A person shall cease to be a member or an associate member (as the 
case may be) if:
(1) they die or cease to exist;
(2) they withdraw their membership (or associate membership) by giving 
the Foundation 7 days' notice in writing;
(3) their membership account is more than one year in arrears;
(4) the board resolves to expel them, subject to any successful appeal 
being made under these articles ++;++ ~~.~~
++(5) are no longer free to exercise their powers as a member (or 
associated member) (e.g. voting on resolutions, or for the board of 
directors) according to their own desires, and are not contractually 
bound to vote a certain way.++


This is currently just an idea. This may, or may not, be the final text. 
The board might not even propose this. Please provide feedback.

You can reply to this email publicly to the osmf-talk@ list, or you can 
contact the boar privately (board at osmfoundation.org). Please state if 
you would like us to treat your email as confidential. Please feel able 
tell other OSMF members about this topic.

-- 

Rory

[¹] 
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2020-October/007231.html
[²] https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Articles_of_Association