The issue boils down to the responsibilities and duties of the state
coordinators and the power that the national board has or doesn't have to
arbitrate and enforce their decisions.
Here in Mississippi and in South Carolina where I maintain sites the state
coordinators have done an excellent job of "managing" and encouraging
volunteers - remembering that we are ALL in fact volunteers and many of us
have a life outside the project, but we have seen in some other states where
the state coordinators have set up a little fiefdom and hounded out those who
voiced a difference of opinion. I saw this happen in Georgia to at least 6
volunteers and did not speak up until it happened to me. I voiced a
disagreement with the way things were being handled and had my page link
yanked in less than 4 hours with no recourse for arbitration or mediation.
Two months later the issue is still not resolved and the state coordinator is
taking the position that since I am not a part of the project I have no say
in the matter.
Whether we call it a "bill of rights" or simply a "binding arbitration
agreement" is irrelevant, but there needs to be a defined procedure in place
that we all agree to and submit to wherein a disagreement can be decided
through a group of disinterested parties.
John Rigdon