Re: WMF executives decision not to voluntarily recognize the union

I've been reading and listening to these back and forth discussions and for
the life of me can't comprehend why the WMF leadership is so scared of the
staff forming a union. I should roll things backa little during my 40 years
of working life in Australia Unions have always played an important role
and worked well with employees, yes disputes do arise but they are always
resolved through collaboration and compromise.  For most of my life I've
worked in a broad stroke of industries related to transport, yes I've been
a knuckle dragging truck driver.  Nowhere where I've worked has had a full
100% unionised staff, some only a very small portion and that doesn't harm
the business either.  The benefits unions bring in helping address safety
as well ensuring that minimum services are maintained even during
disruptions has been the key.

While many of us are volunteers, we all depend on WMF staff performing
vital tasks that keep the movement's capacity to function and grow. They
deserve our support too.  Leadership is not about forcing ideology, its
about recognising opportunities that present themselves and reacting to
gain further benefits.  The WMF has been presented with a great opportunity
to build a cohesive workforce that no longer needs to undermine each other
to advance, the community gains a group of people working collaboratively
creating the solid foundation we will need as everyone faces the very
dynamic unbalanced future we find ourselves in.  The staff benefit from the
stability of employment and clear opportunities to grow within themselves
as they help us as volunteers to grow much needed capacity, nothing
enables taking a chance to grow more than knowing that risk doesn't mean
losing your job. We need staff that can support volunteers taking a risk,
not locking us into the status quo because they fear for their own future.

Over my 20 odd years of volunteering I've worked with many staff members
across the movement, most if not all of them are now friends. We dont get
the servers and software developments without the tech team, dont get trust
& safety protections and reform efforts without the legal team, dont get to
know what is happening across the globe without a comms team, and we dont
get to amazing events like Wikimania without the staff who work in the back
rooms writing letters, talking with venues, answering the million questions
every event has.   In these last 20 years one thing has always stood out is
the CEO's who listened to the volunteer community, took the advice of that
same collective experience then ran with it even with their own twist and
modifications have all left a lasting success for our movement.

For what its worth this knuckle dragging truck driving dinosaur has spent a
long time looking up, looking for leadership, and its been the bright
lights that lead not those hiding in the shadows and throwing barriers onto
the road.

On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 at 10:59, Pine W via Wikimedia-l <
[email protected]> wrote:

> While I lack bandwidth to get into all of the nuances of this, I too am
> wondering about the involvement of this particular law firm. Perhaps
> someone can explain why, of all possible firms, this firm was chosen. That
> choice seems an unnecessary provocation, even if it was not ill-intentioned.
>
> I am not taking a side one way or another on the question of unionization.
> However, I note the amount of emotion, attention, and distraction
> associated with this issue, and I am concerned about the amount of time and
> money being spent on this that could be spent on other important things,
> such as https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Next_25. Also, I note that the
> WMF seems to be over a month late with announcing a finalized version of
> its 2026-2027 Annual Plan, and there remain unanswered questions on the
> Annual Plan talk page, and no one from the Board has responded to my
> comment on these matters here:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard&diff=prev&oldid=30848159.
> And I also note the amount of time and attention that has been spent to
> date on
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Updating_the_ecosystem_of_Wikimedia_organizations,
> only to have the version proposed here get many responses expressing
> concern about
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Updating_the_ecosystem_of_Wikimedia_organizations/Recognition_and_Funding_for_Movement_Organizations.
> And I also recall concerns regarding how CommTech was handled.
>
> I hope that the Board will act prudently to stabilize the organization and
> get it moving somewhat cohesively in a constructive direction. The recent
> degree of disruption should be unnecessary, and seems to me to have become
> a strategic liability.
>
> Pine🌲
>
>
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-- 
Boodarwun
Gnangarra
'ngany dabakarn koorliny arn boodjera dardon nlangan Nyungar koortabodjar'

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