Consulting the Members seems to be catching on…
The ICE Trustee Board – after advice from Council in December 2019 - has decided to consult the Members on extending Voting Rights for Graduate members of the ICE.
The attached Discussion Paper is open for Members’ comments.
Please take the opportunity to make your views known. Council will be discussing the issues again in both April and July 2020.
There are arguments both ways.
- Should all members have a vote regardless of status and Qualification?
- Should Voting Rights be confined to Professionally Qualified Members?
- What about Technician Members?
- Does “Graduate” include holders of BTEC and NVQ3 as well BEng and MEng?
- Should Voting Rights for different classes of member be restricted to different things – By-Laws, Council Elections, calling an SGM? And, if so, which?
- How would extending Voting Rights affect the external standing of the ICE? Would it affect the perception of ICE Membership as the “Gold Standard”. Is the ICE an organisation of Professionally Qualified Members or a body of something more general?
- Why stop at Graduates – why not Students?
Please have a read, discuss with colleagues, come to your own view, and then communicate that through your local committee, your Regional Council Member, via any Council Member, or direct to the to the Director General and Secretary at governance@ice.org.uk
So, yes, it’s good to see the ICE consulting its Members once again, in contrast to the 2018 Ballot, prior to which there was no Membership consultation!
Old habits die hard, though. The Summary Reports of the recent Council and Trustee meetings contain the following statements:
“Trustees welcome the Commission’s view that the changes made in 2018 were the correct direction of travel. Trustees also recognised that the Commission has correctly identified a number of areas that need further refinement”.
And in almost identical wording, Council concluded that
“The Commission’s overall conclusion was that the changes enacted in 2018 were the correct direction of travel but that further refinements were required to best meet the challenges of an Institution operating in the 21st century”.
You have to smile. The report writer seems to have forgotten that the 'direction of travel' of the 2018 Membership ballot was to deny Members their say in ICE’s Governance. It proposed an internally appointed Trustee Board!
The Presidential Commission – which was the consequence of the 2018 Special General meeting – reversed that direction of travel and proposed putting the members back in control! With luck, this will put to a Membership Ballot later this year.
Don’t forget to vote!
Meanwhile, please respond to the Voting Rights Consultation Paper.
Remember, rights come with obligations!
