14 Jan '16: T&E Update

You may have noticed that we have not yet implemented our membership fees increase, which was approved at the AGM held in April 2015.  New Membership fees normally come into effect on the 1^st of January of each year.  This year, instead of an increase in membership fees, we would like to introduce ATC Assist, an initiative that will give members the choice to either:

 

·         Help out with club activities on two occasions during the year.

·         Pay a “volunteer’s levy”, which will enable the club to hire casual workers for some of the activities members normally provide on a voluntary basis.

 

We first employed this concept a couple of years ago when WP Athletics offered clubs financial reward for hosting a water table at the Cape Town Marathon.  Since then we have established a base of unemployed, or partially employed, casual workers who get paid to help out with club activities whilst gaining experience with marshalling as well as other non-sport related tasks.  The past year, in particular, we spent a substantial amount on casual labour with the container renovation project, at our Sunset Team Time Trial events and providing marshals for the WTS Cape Town event.

 

We certainly don’t want to discourage voluntary help from our members as the club simply cannot function without this myriad of skills and services provided voluntarily.  However, we understand that our members do this sport(s) for recreation and everyone’s time is limited.  We also live in a country with a high rate of unemployment and millions of people desperate to earn a living and develop skills that they can sell elsewhere.  Whilst we cannot employ a million, our activities now warrant regular casual labour throughout the year.  With the proposed fee we will be able to grow this base and establish a pool of resources that perhaps other clubs can use a well.

 

With our two track sessions and canal swim happening every week and bi-annual Sunset Team Time Trial, there are certainly enough opportunities for members to volunteer assistance on two occasions per year.  So the fee will only be compulsory for members who cannot or prefer not to assist otherwise.  The levy will be set once approved at the AGM, to be held in February or March this year.  The levy will not apply to Scholar or Student memberships.