Work Quota at Appletree - 1988

Tags: Appletree, Labor

Work Quota at Appletree AT-B
10-03-88
Appletree


Work Quota at Appletree AT-B

March 10, 1988

QUOTA WORK IS VITAL WORK
Members are expected to do an agreed-upon amount of vital work. The amount agreed upon is called "the quota." The quota is set and adjusted by group decisions as necessary.

QUALITY STANDARDS FOR QUOTA WORK
We are expected to do quota work to the satisfaction of the group. If a member is willing to do a task, but not to the group's standards, the work done on that task by that member will be considered not quota and receive work credit accordingly.

QUOTA REQUIREMENTS DURING ILLNESS AND PERIODS AWAY FROM HOME
Members are exempt from the requirement of doing quota work when, for 24 consecutive hours or more (which may be rounded to the nearest day), they are ill or away from home for any reason (for instance for a vacation or an FEC assembly). On such exempt days members may claim "exempt hours." For a week in which a member claims exempt hours her or his quota requirement is reduced by the number of exempt hours claimed for that week. The maximum number of exempt hours a member can claim for a given day is 1/7th of the quota requirement for a week minus the time logged for quota work done on that day.

"QUOTA ACCOUNTS" FOR QUOTA HOURS OWED BY EACH MEMBER
A "quota account" will be created and maintained for each member. The balance of the account will be the amount of quota work the member owes to Appletree. Each week each member's account will be charged with the quota for that week and credited with the work logged on the work credit sheet for quota (vital) work and for the individual quota reduction on account of illness or being away from home. For instance, assume a member is 2 hours behind at the start of a week. The quota for that week is 35 hours and s/he logs 34 hours of quota work this period. S/he was ill one day. On that day s/he did 1 hour of quota work in spite of her or his illness. S/he can thus claim 5 - 1 = 4 hours exemption for this day of illness. This member's quota account will have the following entries:

balance from previous week: + 2 hours
quota for this week: + 35 hours
quota work logged on work time sheets: - 34 hours
quota exemption for illness: - 4 hours
_________
new balance: - 1 hour

This member now owes Appletree -1 hour of quota work. S/he is thus 1 hour ahead.

CHOOSING WORK
Members may choose from any type of work that needs doing. The fact that a member has committed herself or himself to the work does not imply that work is not available for other members. If more than one member want to do the work, these members are expected to divide the work more or less equally among themselves. There are exceptions. A member receiving medical care may choose the care giver(s). A person being taught something may choose the teacher. Mothers have the right to breast-feed their babies. Pregnant women have the right to choose their birth coaches. Work requiring a license is available only to members who are licensed.

The community has the right to make a decision that a member doesn't have the skills to take a full share of a particular job. Each member has the right to get training as required for such work, if feasible.

ROTATION OF WORK
A routine task not enough people sign up for will be rotated among the people who did not sign up for their fair share of the task. A group decision will determine the task description, including the frequency of the task. Not every member who did not sign up for a rotated task will always be expected to be on the rotation. Exceptions of this nature will be made for instance for tasks requiring a license, such as a driver's license or a specialized skill that some members haven't learned yet. Members who are exempt for such reasons are expected to take on a larger share of other rotation work so as to do as much rotation work as others do.

NEGOTIATIONS ABOUT ROTATION WORK
A member who would be willing to take on an additional quota task if it weren't for the fact s/he is already doing all the quota work expected from her/him may ask the group to consider being relieved from one or more rotation tasks. The group is then expected to look at that member's work records of the last four weeks or so. The group will then attempt to make a suggestion to the member to reduce her/his work hours in certain categories of work with the understanding that the group prefers those reductions over the member going off the rotation. If the group cannot agree on such a suggestion the group may consider agreeing to this member going off one or more rotation tasks of the group's choice. If the group decides later a situation has arisen in which it is possible and preferable for that member to go back on a rotation without that member needing to work more than quota, that member is expected to return to participation in the rotation.