Help needed - Lets hold RAAus to account

[Cloud Basher]

To my fellow RAAus members,

 

Over the past few days an issue has played out on social media that should never have occurred in the first instance. The Board of Directors of the RAAus have presided over a situation in which our association has elected to register a trademark over a marketing slogan that is clearly, identifiably and unambiguously associated with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia as well as the international chapters of the same organisation and has been used by those organisations as early as 1949.

 

The response online by both RAAus members and aviation industry participants has been clearly and overwhelming in stating that the decision to trademark this slogan was an enormous error of judgement. Unfortunately our board and management have elected to continue to assert the ownership of the trademark and ignore the overwhelming opinion of members for RAAus to surrender the trademark “Freedom to Fly”. This has bought the reputation of the RAAus into considerable disrepute and has significantly damaged the relationship between RAAus and our peer aviation organisations. The person or persons responsible must be held accountable. After all our Members Charter – which we all, including board and executive members, must subscribe to, states each member is accountable for their own actions.

 

It is clear our organisation has no history with respect to the slogan “Freedom to Fly”. A search of the internet and RAAus website turns up only one reference to it, in the text under Member – Benefits. Furthermore our CEO’s explanation regarding the purported reasoning’s does not hold water and is contradictory in those supposed reasoning.

 

In short the explanation is an excuse in an attempt to avoid responsibility and paint altruistic explanation that it was done for the betterment of other non-profit aviation organisations. I remind the Board and executive management that RAAus is not here to do the work for other organisations. They have been around as long or longer than RAAus and have done ok by themselves, and I am sure their boards do not wish for RAAus to speak for them or take unilateral action on their behalf.

 

As such I feel the board must be reminded that they are a membership organisation and must act in the best interests of its members. The RAAus constitution has been setup to allow members to exercise those membership rights and hold the board to account if it strays from the direction the majority of members desire.

 

I am aware of numerous letters sent to the board, all of which state to the board to surrender the trademark in question. This combined with the overwhelming response on social media leads me to take the following action.

 

I have attached a Notice to the board of RAAus with a call to convene a General Meeting pursuant to Clause 18.2 of the RAAus Constitution in order to consider two resolutions.

 

I invite all members of RAAus who believe that our organisation should be entirely representative of the will and desire of our members and follow those directions. The notices are that; ss a member, that the continuance of the registration of the trademark is a waste of members resources to defend this position, and the person or persons responsible should be held to account.

 

I would like to emphasise that the decision to take this action is not from malice, but rather from a position to send a message to all other aviation organisations that RAAus is a friendly organisation that can be trusted to not only look after its members but be a responsible member of the wider aviation community. Additionally it is to ensure RAAus member funds are not wasted through unnecessary legal entanglement.

 

After all we are all friends of aviation and just want to enjoy our hobby and sport.

 

What is required is for you to print the attachment, Fill in your name, member number (you are required to be a current financial member of RAAus), date and sign. Then scan the form and email it back to me at:

 

[email protected]

 

Additionally, I have attached a proxy voting form for the General Meeting, noting that not everyone would be able to attend the General Meeting. If you believe you would not be able to attend please also print out the proxy form, fill it in and nominate someone you know will be attending the meeting. This is important in order to ensure your vote on the resolutions are counted.

 

Please do not alter the form in anyway, other than to sign, write your name, member number and date.

 

We require a minimum of 100 financial RAAus members, eligible to vote, in order to call this General Meeting. I hope that our members care enough about their organisation, the direction it is taking and more widely, all of the aviation community in this country to take action and exercise their rights as members of our organisation and demand it spends members funds in areas that will help create a unified RAAus and aviation community for the benefit of RAAus members.

 

Thank you.

 

Dave Jardine

 

RAAus member

 

Notice to RAAus Board.pdf

 

Recreational Aviation Australia Limited - Proxy Vote form.pdf

 

Notice to RAAus Board.pdf

 

Recreational Aviation Australia Limited - Proxy Vote form.pdf

 

Notice to RAAus Board.pdf

Recreational Aviation Australia Limited - Proxy Vote form.pdf

[Admin]

You have my vote

 

 

[Cloud Basher]

Thanks Ian, we still need a few more.

 

 

[storchy neil]

you gotta be joking you would have my vote but I got out off your organization because I could see this type of crap happening when the rules changed to allow two to do as they bloody well please neil

 

 

[BusaKaine]

I don’t have someone who can attend of my behalf. I’ve sent you my form though.

 

 

[flyerme]

To my fellow RAAus members,Over the past few days an issue has played out on social media that should never have occurred in the first instance. The Board of Directors of the RAAus have presided over a situation in which our association has elected to register a trademark over a marketing slogan that is clearly, identifiably and unambiguously associated with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia as well as the international chapters of the same organisation and has been used by those organisations as early as 1949.

 

The response online by both RAAus members and aviation industry participants has been clearly and overwhelming in stating that the decision to trademark this slogan was an enormous error of judgement. Unfortunately our board and management have elected to continue to assert the ownership of the trademark and ignore the overwhelming opinion of members for RAAus to surrender the trademark “Freedom to Fly”. This has bought the reputation of the RAAus into considerable disrepute and has significantly damaged the relationship between RAAus and our peer aviation organisations. The person or persons responsible must be held accountable. After all our Members Charter – which we all, including board and executive members, must subscribe to, states each member is accountable for their own actions.

 

It is clear our organisation has no history with respect to the slogan “Freedom to Fly”. A search of the internet and RAAus website turns up only one reference to it, in the text under Member – Benefits. Furthermore our CEO’s explanation regarding the purported reasoning’s does not hold water and is contradictory in those supposed reasoning.

 

In short the explanation is an excuse in an attempt to avoid responsibility and paint altruistic explanation that it was done for the betterment of other non-profit aviation organisations. I remind the Board and executive management that RAAus is not here to do the work for other organisations. They have been around as long or longer than RAAus and have done ok by themselves, and I am sure their boards do not wish for RAAus to speak for them or take unilateral action on their behalf.

 

As such I feel the board must be reminded that they are a membership organisation and must act in the best interests of its members. The RAAus constitution has been setup to allow members to exercise those membership rights and hold the board to account if it strays from the direction the majority of members desire.

 

I am aware of numerous letters sent to the board, all of which state to the board to surrender the trademark in question. This combined with the overwhelming response on social media leads me to take the following action.

 

I have attached a Notice to the board of RAAus with a call to convene a General Meeting pursuant to Clause 18.2 of the RAAus Constitution in order to consider two resolutions.

 

I invite all members of RAAus who believe that our organisation should be entirely representative of the will and desire of our members and follow those directions. The notices are that; ss a member, that the continuance of the registration of the trademark is a waste of members resources to defend this position, and the person or persons responsible should be held to account.

 

I would like to emphasise that the decision to take this action is not from malice, but rather from a position to send a message to all other aviation organisations that RAAus is a friendly organisation that can be trusted to not only look after its members but be a responsible member of the wider aviation community. Additionally it is to ensure RAAus member funds are not wasted through unnecessary legal entanglement.

 

After all we are all friends of aviation and just want to enjoy our hobby and sport.

 

What is required is for you to print the attachment, Fill in your name, member number (you are required to be a current financial member of RAAus), date and sign. Then scan the form and email it back to me at:

 

[email protected]

 

Additionally, I have attached a proxy voting form for the General Meeting, noting that not everyone would be able to attend the General Meeting. If you believe you would not be able to attend please also print out the proxy form, fill it in and nominate someone you know will be attending the meeting. This is important in order to ensure your vote on the resolutions are counted.

 

Please do not alter the form in anyway, other than to sign, write your name, member number and date.

 

We require a minimum of 100 financial RAAus members, eligible to vote, in order to call this General Meeting. I hope that our members care enough about their organisation, the direction it is taking and more widely, all of the aviation community in this country to take action and exercise their rights as members of our organisation and demand it spends members funds in areas that will help create a unified RAAus and aviation community for the benefit of RAAus members.

 

Thank you.

 

Dave Jardine

 

RAAus member

Dave are you going? As ill nominate you on my proxy!!!

 

 

[Yenn]

Will do Dave also I will tell others who don't look at this site and are not SAAA members.

 

 

[Cloud Basher]

Dave are you going? As ill nominate you on my proxy!!!

Yes I plan on going

 

 

[Admin]

A note to everyone that is completing one of the forms...don't forget to add your membership number on the form!!!

 

 

[billwoodmason]

You have my vote, for too long the current management style has been allowed to radically change the RAA landscape without any recourse or moderation. Can I give you my proxy?.

 

 

[slb]

[ATTACH=full]61637[/ATTACH]

Mmm not sure what to say to this

 

 

[Thruster88]

Mmm not sure what to say to this

Someone, because a group of people could not be this stupid, is back peddling ?

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

..... because a group of people could not be this stupid ...

Ummm - ever seen a committee in action

 

 

[Frankus1aust]

you gotta be joking you would have my vote but I got out off your organization because I could see this type of crap happening when the rules changed to allow two to do as they bloody well please neil

Sorry for my screaming ignorance but can you explain the "rules changed to allow two to do as they bloody well please" comment?

 

 

[pmccarthy]

The directors of a company limited by guarantee are more accountable in law than the officers of an association. I have been both.

 

 

[turboplanner]

The directors of a company limited by guarantee are more accountable in law than the officers of an association. I have been both.

That technically is true, but it relates to financial issues; Incorporated Association officials can certainly be prosecuted for crimes, but a level of protection, which recognises that volunteers and sporting officials come from a peer group with less office skills, and that's the reason for a level of immunity provided they abide by their constitution.

However, the reason sporting groups use Incorporated Associations in the first place is that they give much better, and much more flexible control to the members.

 

The argument, repeated over and over again before the RAA vote to switch to a limited company that RAA "was no longer like a cricket club, and needed to be more professional, like a company" has now been exposed as propaganda.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

That technically is true, but it relates to financial issues; Incorporated Association officials can certainly be prosecuted for crimes, but a level of protection, which recognises that volunteers and sporting officials come from a peer group with less office skills, and that's the reason for a level of immunity provided they abide by their constitution.However, the reason sporting groups use Incorporated Associations in the first place is that they give much better, and much more flexible control to the members.

 

The argument, repeated over and over again before the RAA vote to switch to a limited company that RAA "was no longer like a cricket club, and needed to be more professional, like a company" has now been exposed as propaganda.

Yes, it was all pressed through very quickly and without the members of the former association having much time to consider the implications. Off the cuff I thought it was a good concept but I'm not so sure now!

 

I've spoken with numerous 'former members' since the Inc became Ltd and asked their opinions 'one year on' and surprisingly (and I think it's 'in their ignorance' because the majority of 'former members' have so little or no actual involvement with our 'sub-regulator' that they don't really have a clue what's actually going on ...) ... I say again, surprisingly, they are still in full support of the movement from Inc Assoc to Ltd Co.

 

However - I don't think any of them are aware that we are no longer 'members'. The only reference to membership that remains is their/our membership number, we are now nothing more than clients - as someone mentioned previously. We're not even shareholders as far as I can tell - certainly no-one has sent me a share certificate.

 

So - whereas I used to have a share in the proceeds of the Incorporation - such that if it was wound up, I and other members would have been entitled to our share of the unencumbered funds, that seems to have been skillfully usurped and absorbed into the new Company's account. I'm no accountant, although my wife is and my father also was, so I have some basic understanding of the processes, and as far as I can determine in a simple manner, the funds of the former Incorporation should have been offered to be distributed to its members prior to their being a request sent to those members, to which they needed to have agreed, before the new entity (the Ltd Co) could take possession of those funds for that new entity's use to carry on the business of the RAAus. As far as I can determine that didn't happen, although it may well have been couched in the miniscule print of the legalese that no-one had time to peruse in the apparent urgency to move from Inc to Ltd.

 

I wonder if anyone can explain that extreme urgency for the move, except to shorten the time for people to consider the implications and examine the possible outcomes.

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

I emailed RA-Aus, and RA-Aus emailed me to say that they never requested royalties from any organisation.

 

 

[coljones]

Yes, it was all pressed through very quickly and without the members of the former association having much time to consider the implications. Off the cuff I thought it was a good concept but I'm not so sure now!I've spoken with numerous 'former members' since the Inc became Ltd and asked their opinions 'one year on' and surprisingly (and I think it's 'in their ignorance' because the majority of 'former members' have so little or no actual involvement with our 'sub-regulator' that they don't really have a clue what's actually going on ...) ... I say again, surprisingly, they are still in full support of the movement from Inc Assoc to Ltd Co.

 

However - I don't think any of them are aware that we are no longer 'members'. The only reference to membership that remains is their/our membership number, we are now nothing more than clients - as someone mentioned previously. We're not even shareholders as far as I can tell - certainly no-one has sent me a share certificate.

 

So - whereas I used to have a share in the proceeds of the Incorporation - such that if it was wound up, I and other members would have been entitled to our share of the unencumbered funds, that seems to have been skillfully usurped and absorbed into the new Company's account. I'm no accountant, although my wife is and my father also was, so I have some basic understanding of the processes, and as far as I can determine in a simple manner, the funds of the former Incorporation should have been offered to be distributed to its members prior to their being a request sent to those members, to which they needed to have agreed, before the new entity (the Ltd Co) could take possession of those funds for that new entity's use to carry on the business of the RAAus. As far as I can determine that didn't happen, although it may well have been couched in the miniscule print of the legalese that no-one had time to peruse in the apparent urgency to move from Inc to Ltd.

 

I wonder if anyone can explain that extreme urgency for the move, except to shorten the time for people to consider the implications and examine the possible outcomes.

Members of a not-for-profit were never entitled to the unencumbered funds on windup. Usually, on wind up, the funds would have to be vested in a similar not profit organisation. Most not for profits go bankrupt as their swansong.

Time to move on,there is no car wreck here.

 

 

[bull]

The directors of a company limited by guarantee are more accountable in law than the officers of an association. I have been both.

SO, whats your point ? just because they are more accountable according to you , this still do,s not stop them doing what they please...……...as members[shareholders] cant stop themor hold them to account.