2022 Members' Meeting and voting process
Table of Contents
Introduction
This year we have witnessed how carceral and police technology-based surveillance works hand-in-hand with right wing agendas around the world, from repealing our right to abortion in the United States, to facial recognition networks and the growing use of drones world-wide.
Many of these technologies are fueled by our own use of corporate technology services.
How do we, as a movement, fight back? How do we build our strength and autonomy while reducing our dependence on corporate technology?
Please participate in our membership meeting activities this Fall to help define our strategy!
We will be reporting on the progress of our Engagement and Communications Team and our Technology, Infrastructure and Services team, defining our priorities for the coming year, and getting to know each other as we build a powerful movement for autonomous technology.
Our membership meeting activities will take place from early October through early November and will include online discussion sessions, follow up conversations on our web forum and a one week voting period.
You can register for all events on our event registration page.
Please take a look at our schedule and commit to attending at least one discussion session and the main membership meeting in November.
Click on the image to open our membership meeting infographic.
Discussion Meetings
All activities are scheduled for either 1 hour or 1.5 hours.
We will hold the following four discussion sessions. Members are welcome to attend all sessions, or you can choose to attend just the sessions your consider most relevant to your organizing work.
Each activity will take place online via our video conference system (Jitsi Meet) via https://i.meet.mayfirst.org/MembershipMeeting. Please note: For best results, please connect via an Android phone or a desktop computer using either the Chrome web browser or the Firefox web browser. Most iPhones and iPads are not capable of using our interpretation system.
All activities will have live, simultaneous interpretation between english and spanish.
We will also have a corresponding forum conversation via discourse for people unable to attend the online session or who wish to continue the conversation.
Additionally, written reports evaluating our work will be available soon.
Please let us know which activities you plan to attend.
Schedule of Online Sessions
- Tuesday, October 4th, at 4:00 - 5:30 pm (America/New_York, 03:00 pm - 4:30 pm Mexico City, 8:00 - 9:30 pm UTC)
Assessing the current political environment
Join us in a collaborative workshop to discuss the most important aspects of the current political moment and help us plan for what’s to come.
Download calendar file 📅 | Google Calendar Link | Participate via the online forum - Tuesday, October 11, at 2:00 - 3:00 pm (America/New_York, 1:00 - 2:00 pm Mexico City, 6:00 - 7:00 pm UTC)
Are you interested in running for the Board of Directors?
This year, 6 seats are up for re-election! If you are interested in helping direct May First, this workshop is for you. We will share information for all prospective board members about how May First’s leadership operates, expectations of board members, the history of the organization and the organization’s commitment to combating racism and sexism. Please review our board orientation materials.
Download calendar file 📅 | Google Calendar Link | Participate via the online forum - Wednesday, October 19th, at 3:00 - 4:30 pm (America/New_York, 2:00 - 3:30 pm Mexico City, 7:00 - 8:30 pm UTC)
Engagement and Communications
How do we engage the movement and communicate the importance of movement-controlled technology? How do we align our projects with the current political moment? Help us strategize for next year. This meeting will produce about 6 - 8 priorities for the coming year.
Download calendar file 📅 | Google Calendar Link | Participate via the online forum - Friday, October 28th, at 1:00 - 2:30 pm (America/New_York, 12:00 - 1:30 pm Mexico City, 5:00 - 6:30 pm UTC )
Technology Infrastructure and Services
If you want to learn more about our current technology and services, help plan how to engage the movement in their development, and plan our future development, join us and meet the TIAS team. This meeting will produce about 6 - 8 priorities for the coming year.
Download calendar file 📅 | Google Calendar Link | Participate via the online forum
Please register!
Board Elections
According to our by-laws, 5 board seats are chosen by workers and 20 are elected by the membership. Of the 20, we elect approximately 1/3 each year for 3 year terms.
In addition, we reserve a proportionate number of seats for members who pay dues in Mexico (about 20 percent).
This year, given the current ratio of Mexican members, two board seats for a member paying dues in Mexico and four board seats for all other members are up for election.
The board nomination period will run from October 1 through October 31st. And the election will run From November 10 - November 17th.
If you would like to run for the board, please attend the board session (see above). You may also be interested in reviewing our board orientation materials.
Starting October 1, you can nominate yourself or another May First member who has agreed to run via this form.
The Main Meeting
By law, we have to hold an “official” membership meeting with attendance by at least 10% of our members (about 65 members this year).
The official membership meeting will take place on Thursday, November 10, from 1:00 - 2:00 pm America/New_York (12:00 - 1:00 pm Mexico City, 6:00 - 7:00 pm UTC)
Download calendar file 📅 | Google Calendar Link | Participate via the online forum
Once attendance is taken and we have determined that we have quorum, we will be able to make proposals for member approval. When voting, individual members get one vote and organizational members get two votes. Even if your organization sends 10 people to the meeting, you still only get two votes.
The agenda is:
- Proposal on Board elections. This proposal will ask the members to approve electing the board through a one week online ballot system to ensure as many members as possible can participate (rather than only allowing the members present on the call to vote). See below for more details.
- Reports. There will be one financial report and two team reports, based on the conversations at the member discussion sessions that precede the Members’ meeting. The team reports will emphasize the 5 - 7 priorities echoed in their respective sessions or the general outline of the proposal being put forward.
- Financial Report
- Engagement and Communications
- Technology Infrastructure and Services
The Voting Period
May First has always emphasized the importance of internal democracy and we don’t feel a single on-line meeting is the most inclusive way to elect Board members since not all members will be able to attend.
So the Board will propose to the membership meeting that we conduct the elections via an on-line ballot (using the exact same voting site where we have conducted our elections for the last 6 years) for a week following the meeting: November 10th through November 17th.
In that Board elections ballot, members will also be asked to rank the priorities that were generated during discussion sessions.
Legal Details
Our new by-laws require a yearly meeting of members at which 10 percent of our active membership makes up a quorom. This means we need attendance by at least 65 members (the exact number will be determined on October 31st, the cut-off date for voter eligibility). To evaluate this requirement, we will be counting memberships, not people on the call. We invite members to bring as many people from your organization as you want, however, we can only count each membership once when taking attendance.
This quorum is a requirement of New York State law under which our cooperative is incorporated.
