Guild AGM 2008

A good turn-out for yesterday's Guild AGM as members spent a constructive day discussing the Guild's past year and future plans, as well as voting on a succession of rule change motions.

A full report will be published in due course, but the headlines are that new criteria for Full Membership were accepted, but a proposed increase in subscription rates was not.

The change to membership criteria means that, now, according to the Guild Rule Book:

(a) A Full Member shall be any person who has accumulated 8 Membership Points
(b) Membership points shall be allocated as follows, subject to the discretion of the Executive Council:

For each single piece of written work of any description for which reasonable payment has been received under written contract, in terms not less favourable than those existing in current minimum terms agreements negotiated by the Guild (where such agreements exist) - 8 points

For each single piece of marketed written work produced or published other than under the terms of the previous paragraph - 4 points

For each completed year of Candidate membership (up to four years) - 1 point.

Guild Chair, Katharine Way, said that the change, proposed by the Guild's Executive Council, is intended to reflect changes in various areas of work that Guild members undertake - particularly the rise in self-publishing.

A rise in the cost of subscriptions for Full Members was defeated, following a call for the already very successful recruitment campaign to be allowed more time to run.