2020 General Meeting

Date: 1st March 2020 (2020-03-01)

Agenda

Matters Arising

Amendments to Governing Documents

Motions Relating to Financial Matters

a.) Temporarily transferring duties of JCR accountant to college bursary (CC) Passes 

Any Other Motions

a.) Sourcing ethical stash (MS & MB) Passes 

Appendices 

1. Matters Arising 2. Amendments to Governing Documents

3. Motions Relating to Financial Matters

a.) Temporarily transferring duties of JCR accountant to college bursary (CC)

This JCR notes that 

1. The current JCR accountant is retiring next week
2. That the JCR requires an accountant to fulfil its basic functions; without an accountant wages would not be paid, and reimbursements would not be given
3. That the job has been advertised for over a month and that we have had no viable applicants
4. That the college bursary has offered to fulfil the functions of the current JCR accountant until we find a replacement

This JCR resolves to 

1. Accept the offer from the college bursary to fulfil the normal functions of the JCR accountant. They will perform this function for Trinity Term of 2020 and for the Summer vacation of 2020
2. Accept a reduction in the JCR transfer from college that is equal to the wage that we would have paid our accountant. This will act as college’s financial compensation and makes no difference to the JCR’s financial condition in real terms.
3. Mandate the current President and Treasurer to continue searching for a replacement in this time period. Should they fail to find a replacement they must return to a GM at the beginning of Michaelmas and pass a motion to extend this period of college assistance. 
4. Mandate the treasurer to give a report at a GM at the end of Trinity term on any relevant developments relating to the role of JCR accountant. 

4. Any Other Motions

a.) Sourcing ethical stash (MS & MB)

This JCR notes: 

a.) Modern slavery exists today on a large scale. 

b.) Over 40 million people are believed to be in slavery around the world

c.) The fashion industry has a high level of exposure to slavery. G20 countries are estimated to import an annual value of US$127.7bn in clothes at risk of including slavery in their supply chains.

d.) Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits slavery and the slave trade in all forms.

e.) Oxford SU has provided a platform that allows common room and societies to source merchandise from ethically-accredited suppliers, including ‘Neutral’. Neutral is a company that is Fairtrade certified. 

This JCR believes: 

f.) Slavery is an affront to human dignity. 

g.) The JCR should in no way be complicit in supporting slavery through the fashion industry. 

This JCR resolves: 

h.) To mandate all JCR committee officers and Balliol undergraduate society officers responsible for sourcing merchandise (‘stash’) to ensure wherever possible that suppliers are accredited by Fairtrade or Fair Wear. This includes sourcing their materials and producing their clothing in a way which is environmentally sustainable and fair to their workers. We recommend some such companies in the appendix.

5. Appendices

Recommended companies for ethical stash 

• Teemill (https://teemill.com/ also available through https://rapanuiclothing.com/design-your-own-tee)
• Cotton Roots (cottonroots.co.uk)
• Oxford SU Platform (http://www.theverylatest.net/OXFORDSU/
• Shirt Works (https://www.shirtworks.co.uk/)

Minutes

Motions Relating to Financial Matters

a.) Temporarily transferring duties of JCR accountant to college bursary (CC)

Conor presents the motion. He explains that the bursary will keep the jcr running, as well as drafting template budgets and helping improve the institutional structure, which is very, very outdated - they have already started helping with this. Then, the job advertisement can be rewritten to be more appealing, and we can hopefully find a replacement for Denise. He emphasises that the jcr relies on Denise to function on a day to day level. 

Thomas asks what will actually happen if bursary takes on the duties. Conor says you’ll go to the bursary instead, it’ll be open 9am-5pm. 

Alex asks how money will be reimbursed. Conor says in the short term, the cash system will remain in place, but this is really archaic and harder to monitor; banks transfers have been discussed and will be implemented in long term. 

Thomas asks if this means college will see anything more about our finances. Conor says it won’t; Denise already sends our accounts off to make formal accounts. Also, college don’t really want to interfere, and we’d just tell them to stop if they did. We currently have a verbal agreement asserting this, once passed this can be made into a formal signed agreement. 

Someone asks what happens if the motion doesn’t pass. Conor doesn’t know. It’ll probably be brought back at an emergency GM. If Denise does retire, Conor could take over to pay wages and make the jcr legally compliant. But Denise works 18 hours a week and he has a life and a degree, so this is pretty impossible. Generally; it will be a very bad time. 

Thomas Laver’s issue (a 30 minute interlude)

Thomas Laver is worried this arrangement will be kept permanently. 

Conor disagrees. There were a couple issues with the job advert we put out. It was advertised as an accounting job when Denise is a bookkeeper. Also, the job is outdated; we can cut the hours and increase the pay (only if needed). A bookkeeper is more likely to be looking for part-time work, so this would attract more applicants. 

Conor emphasises that there is a clause to get out in the agreement if things don’t go how we want. He also says every member of financial executive (president, VP, treasurer, lindsay, secretary, foodies, entz) has voted for this. 

Thomas has an amendment. He wants to remove the summer of 2020 from clause 1 of the resolves section. This would mean college would perform the accountant’s duties only for Trinity, and then we would review the agreement. 

Conor says this was the initial agreement, but over the summer there is way less to be done. To stay financially compliant, the JCR needs to tell HMRC details of employment and wages - but no wages are paid. It takes a couple hours at most a week. People won’t want to enter this very low commitment role and then switch to the higher commitment in Michaelmas. 

Thomas just disagrees. He also thinks freshers won’t know or care, so it’s a bit pointless to do a review in Michaelmas. 

Conor points out that it would be really hard to get someone in place by the end of Trinity, and it wouldn’t give us time to reform the finances. Maddy agrees - we’ve already advertised, and new applicants won’t come out of nowhere even considering the better advertisement, especially without the reforms to the role. 

Conor does not take Thomas’s amendment as friendly. He thinks Thomas is just misunderstanding what the role will be over summer. 

Someone points out that if we want to review wages and hours, we’ll need far longer than just Trinity. Cerian thinks if we want someone in place by the end of Trinity, we’d need to hire them in week 5 - this is really fast, and probably impossible. Conor emphasises that college’s advice and structure could allow us to reformulate the role to make it much better. 

Dan says that as the previous treasurer, even treasurers don’t really understand the jcr’s financial situation. He thinks Conor and Cerian are the only ones who will really know what’s going on, and we should trust them. Also if Thomas has a real issue, he can bring his own motion. Dan doesn’t really see the point of this conversation (prescient opinion)

Thomas questions if college needs to be in control of our accounts to give advice. Conor says yes, they need to demonstrate, but he doesn’t think ‘control’ is the right word - they have no control over spending, they’d only do admin. 

Thomas decides to present an amendment to have a report at the end of Trinity instead, which Conor says would have happened anyway. Conor accepts this as a friendly amendment. 

Maddy says everything will go to shit if we don’t pass the motion. 

A vote is taken. 

The motion passes unanimously. 

a.) Sourcing ethical stash (MS & MB)

Megan and Michael present the motion - they want it to apply to all clubs and societies associated with the jcr. 

Rory says he’s had offers to move the whole jcr’s stash system e.g. puffa jackets to a permanent online system so you could get them whenever you wanted throughout the year. A couple of the websites he’s seen stress that they are sustainable, and he’d be very happy to support the motion. 

Alex asks how the motion would be enforced. Michael says it would be a guideline - there are often small orders and it would take far too long and involve far too much effort to police them all. If he found out the stash was unsustainable though, he could post on the jcr; it would be more about public shaming than setting up a pre-emptive system. 

Dan asks if this applies to societies like Cerberus. This is separate to the jcr, but all its members are PPE undergraduates from Balliol. Michael thinks the motion is pretty clearly applicable here, but acknowledges there may be some borderline cases. As policing isn’t a big deal, he doesn’t think this is too much of an issue. It’s about raising awareness. 

A vote is taken. 

The motion passes.