- This topic has 23 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Re: Membership.
I don`t see why they should get free membership. Maybe reduced….but not free. They will join the first year then we’ll never see them again. At least at reduced membership we would at least get something from them.
Re: Membership.
That sounds like a good idea as a freebie is sometimes necessary to generate interest.
The WTA is primarily for the independents to have a united voice and hopefully to help the industry as a whole be more inclusive. The only reservation I have is for the voting rights of the engineers who work for the sheds and the manufacturers. If they are to vote, could it open up the ‘witch hunt’ situation we have seen developing in the Rumour Mill in the last 2 weeks? If we are not allowing the manufacturers to have voting rights, could the vote be scewed by the manufacturers engineers ‘toeing the party line’ and therefore the issues being discussed may not be a true representation of what is needed? I am just saying that you may be getting the manufacturer voting by the back door…..
What the answer to that is, I’m not sure, but I think Ian is right. Inclusive, not exclusive is the ethos of the WTA, but who should be invited??Steve..
Re: Membership.
the only people that can vote are the independents who pay there fee every year ,the manufacturers will only ever have an associate membership that will have no voting rights.
I don’t have a problem with an introductory term but more 6 months I think.
The other thing is we need to give them some value for there investment .I wouldn’t do it yet, but that’s just my opinion.
I also don’t see any reason to court the manufacturers or whatever at this point in time so, what’s the reason to go to that effort?
K.
Re: Membership.
I’m kind of tempted to refer everybody back to the first post in the thread.
If we’re brutally honest, we’re all in this for what we can get by way of a profit. It’s a foodchain, and we’re quite a long way down it. Which is why we keep on getting screwed by manufacturers, shafted by work providers and ripped off by spares suppliers. And yet, after all these years, we keep on taking it and coming back for more.
Just how dumb are we?
We owe none of them anything. Combined with our own previous stupidity for the last 20 years, these “Associates-to-be” have devalued the entire business to a degree where many of us (Independents) are failing, getting out or going bust.
If it were my call alone, I’d shut them all out, make this an Association for the Independent Repairers and then let them sweat as we gather in as many as we can. Then use a bit of clout…….
I suppose I can dream. We’re a democratic body; these are just my personal thoughts.
Chris.
Re: Membership.
Penguin45 wrote:Just how dumb are we?
At times… 😉
I was going to end this post there, but have decided against that.
I don’t have an issue with many of the manufacturers etc. It’s not that they deliberately go out to exploit the repairers most of the time, it’s just that they often don’t seem to understand the point of view of anyone beyond their own view of the industry.
Of course there are some exceptions to that, some notable, some just plain chancers.
My opinion is very simple, you have to earn trust, respect and credibility and that takes time. It doesn’t happen quickly, especially in this industry in which things move at glacial pace.
But what I’d say to remember in this is one thing, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and, for now, we’re seen as vinegar in a good many cases.
K.
Re: Membership.
Ian can speak for himself ,but my understanding of this is that at least one manufacturer on the back of the meeting has expressed an interest in joining us .
Now do we say not at the moment as we have nothing to offer you as yet (which we don’t) but we will contact you later.
Or do we welcome them but on a provisional membership as a gesture of goodwill ,I said publicly at the meeting that we are still building for the future and that there are things in the pipeline .
I have always said that no manufacturer will have any kind of voting rights neither will there engineers ,our whole ethos is based around the small independent repairer .
However if someone comes knocking could it be construed as churlish to turn them away
LawrenceRe: Membership.
OK to reiterate, Fact,we are seen by some manufacturers as being the rogues or rabble in the industry. Vinegar is a good analagy Ken. We can continue as we are (I dont have an issue with that) or else we can deflect some of the vinegar away by allowing shall we say, selected manufacturers to joint. One manufacturer has shown an interest. My concern is that as the industry implodes upon itself and we have a surplus of redundant engineers, those manufacturers have an abundant choice of where to go. Right now there are some desperate people out there. The choice is down to you guys, I’m only the mouthpiece of the WTA meetings. 😀
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.