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At times we all wonder why those who say they represent someone or something are afraid to let it be known just how many people they actually do represent? I suppose the fear of being ridiculed and accused of being unrepresentative are two reasons why minority groupings prefer to keep their membership figures secret?
I don't believe organisations either National or otherwise should be allowed to infer that they represent people they don't, or that they represent the views of the majority?
We have snippets of information on TDO that allows us to gauge the level of support many Taxi organisations enjoy but they all pale into insignificance when compared to those who choose not to join a trade organisation.
For example some time ago the T&G let it be known that they represent less than five percent of London hackney cab drivers. The T&G also let slip the fact that the North West region membership was less than one percent of the taxi trade in that area.
It is easier to calculate the membership of the National Taxi association because all that is required is knowledge of the number of local associations affiliated to the NTA. You then have to calculate how many members in each local association and you should have a figure close to the number of people they represent.
Every snippet of information helps in unmasking the membership figures associated with these organisations and one such snippet came our way in 2006 when Wayne Casey of the NTA gave us a massive insight into NTA membership figures.
It costs twenty pounds per plate per annum to join the NTA with a charge of 100 pounds for an individual member. Knowing the cost of membership is meaningless unless you have a figure by which to calculate the sum. In 2006 Mr Casey unwittingly gave us that magical figure when he made the following statement to me.
John, if you can recall the bucket collectors of the NTTG, who are from your area, they collected in the region of £50k from the Nations hackney trade, "more than double what the NTA achieve in subscriptions”.
I suppose some would see that as a rather an innocuous statement to make but not me. I saw it as an admission of membership numbers because by calculating the gross income by the membership fee of 20 pounds enables you to come up with a figure that is extremely accurate.
Mr Casey said the figure of 50 grand was more than double what the NTA received in subscriptions for that year. If we give the NTA a little credit and project their income at half that figure, say 25 grand then we have a number in which to workout just how many members they do actually have?
How do we do this? Quite simple really, you only need to divide the membership fee of 20 pounds into 25,000 pounds and you will see that at twenty pounds a time the number of people needed to reach the magic figure of 25k is 1,250 members. 20x1250 = 25k.
So now we have a pretty good idea of the membership figures associated with the National Taxi association and therefore just how many people they actually represent?
Other organisations have a similar level of representation at both national and local level but without getting my calculator out it is fairly obvious that each organisation represents less than one percent of the Taxi trade.
Carlisle is an exception at local level because it is suggested that nearly 50% of the local trade are members of one particular local association.
Regards
JD
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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.
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