January 1996, DECplus Annual Meeting, Part IOn January 16, the NEW DECplus held it's first Annual Meeting in the HLO2 Annex. Along with the board members, Pat Carter, Ron Glover, and Mark Cohen represented the Human Resources Organization. In the audience we had about 20 Digital Employees from various sites in attendance.
After the introductions, we went right to work. Ron Glover spoke first about Diversity. He stated that during the many unprofitable quarters over the last few years, the senior management of the company gave little attention to issues that did not directly impact profitability. Diversity programs dried up. Recently, senior management re-examined the need for diversity and re-affirmed the need for this kind of work. Ron has begun the effort to define the work. Groups like DECplus are needed to communicate to management the unique requirements of their community. Ron strongly encouraged us to be vocal in stating our platforms.
Ron then went on to talk about Domestic Partnership benefits, which was an item that was high on our list. Ron has already begun the effort to work with DECplus members to drive a proposal through senior management. Unfortunately, although Ron had hoped to have definitive news about the proposal tonight, he needs more time.
Similarly, Ron has also begun to try to get us funding for DECplus memberships in the Greater Boston Business Council (GBBC), and he hopes to have an answer to that within a couple of weeks. He stated he has the funds, but needs the approval to spend them.
Ron announced that he is planning a Diversity Forum for 50-60 participants in early Q4; the group would lay out the diversity objectives for the coming years. DECplus is invited to participate through its members who will attend the forum.
During a short Q&A following his remarks, Ron indicated that he appreciates the need for a kind of small sign or initiative from senior management to provide a spark to groups like DECplus to push their agendas. He hopes to be able to deliver something concrete soon.
Following Ron Glover's remarks, Glen Silva introduced the discussions about a DECplus Mission Statement. Examples of mission statements were distributed and the meeting broke into three work groups, each of which drafted a mission statement. The drafts were briefly discussed and the process for final approval was discussed and concerns were raised about giving a voice to members who were not present, as well as coordinating with other "DECplus" groups in other geographies. The following process was agreed:
The next order of business was to discuss and vote on the proposed DECplus By-laws. Concerns were raised that this might be premature until the Mission Statement becomes final. Other concerns were raised about some of the misunderstandings over the proposal: apparently many attendees had not read the draft because they thought it was a reprint of the "old DECplus" bylaws. It was proposed and voted that we table discussion of the bylaws until the next general meeting.
The final business was to have been a series of breakout sessions to begin creating "discussion groups" around key issues which could eventually serve as a kind of Platform or Agenda for DECplus. Because of time constraints, there was instead an open brief discussion of some issues (e.g. Pride, Domestic Partner Benefits, a membership drive, etc.) but it was proposed and voted that we postpone full discussion until the next general meeting.
At the end of the meeting, Ron Glover said he hopes we invite him back for next month's meeting. It is nice to know that we as a group have gained his interest.
Onto the Annual Meetinng, Part 2!!!