• artyom
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        06 months ago

        If they’re being paid then they’re not volunteers…

        • @Noughtmare@programming.dev
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          06 months ago

          They are considered volunteers in the Netherlands as long as the compensation is way below market rates. I don’t understand why you think this is a problem.

          • artyom
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            6 months ago

            I mean I don’t know what the implications of this are so I’m not sure what the problem is. What’s to stop an employer from hiring someone, paying them a few bucks an hour and calling them “volunteers”?

            The bigger issue is that that’s simply not what a “volunteer” is, by definition.

            • muppeth
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              06 months ago

              What’s to stop an employer from hiring someone, paying them a few bucks an hour and calling them “volunteers”?

              Because most likely would not find volunteers that are ok being paid approx. 170euro a month. Also I think this setting is only applicable to foundations and associations.

              • artyom
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                06 months ago

                Plenty of people do. That’s why minimum wage is a thing.

                • muppeth
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                  06 months ago

                  Yes and that’s why volunteer fees are nowhere near minimum wage. It’s basically a way to compensate all sort of volunteers helping out non-profits. IMO it’s quite a good system and more of a symbolic then a real pay.

            • @ITGuyLevi@programming.dev
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              06 months ago

              I’m kind of with you on this, volunteer has always been something done of a persons own volition without recieving compensation. Even when someone is holding a sign saying “will work for food” they are trying to barter, not voluneer for something.

              I think as I get older I just get less willing to accept new uses for existing words. I grew up without a lot of social interaction so I may just not fully understand, or maybe it’s just something that was lost in translation.

              • artyom
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                06 months ago

                Mostly because when someone is trying to use an existing word to mean something new, they are usually trying to manipulate, weaponize, or intentionally conflate it with something else to give people the wrong idea.

                As a (unpaid) volunteer of my local mountain bike club, we have to spend a lot of time reeducating the public and politicians that no, slapping pedals on an electric motorcycle does not make it an “ebike”, because that’s what these companies have intentionally convinced them of. That is a device that has a legal classification that includes a 750w/28MPH limit.