Volunteer Bill of Rights

To: Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To: Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By: Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

THE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN ORGANIZATIONAL VOLUNTEER
By Bill Pennington, WA6SLA, State OES ACS Region Radio Officer,
ARES DEC, and State OES Warning Notification Controller:

RIGHTS

  1. The right to be treated as a co-worker; not just free help.

  2. The right to a suitable assignment.

  3. The right to know as much as possible about the organization; policy, people and programs.

  4. The right to participate in activities.

  5. The right to quality training.

  6. The right to sound guidance and direction.

  7. The right to proper working conditions.

  8. The right to promotion and a variety of experience.

  9. The right to be heard; to have a part in the planning.

  10. The right to recognition, through promotion, reward and expression of appreciation by professionals.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Rights and responsibilities are mutual and inseparable. You can ensure enjoyment of one only by exercising the other. The rights of all of us depends on responsibility by each of us. To secure and expand our rights, therefore, you must accept these responsibilities as individual members of an organization.

  1. Be fully responsible for our own actions and for the consequences of those actions. Freedom to choose carries with it the responsibility for our choices.

  2. Respect the rights and beliefs of others. In a free society, diversity flourishes. Courtesy and consideration toward others are measures of a civilized society.

  3. Give sympathy, understanding and help to others. As you hope others will help you when you are in need, you should help others when they are in need.

  4. Do your best to meet your own and your families' needs. By helping yourself and those closest to you, you become productive members of an organization and you contribute to the strength of that organization.

  5. Respect and obey the rules, regulations and guidelines. These are mutually accepted rules, regulations and guidelines by which, together, we maintain a fully operational organization. These rules, regulations and guidelines are the foundation of an organization. That foundation should provide an orderly process for changing these rules, regulations and guidelines. It also depends on your obeying these rules, regulations and guidelines once they have been freely adopted.

  6. Respect the property of others, both private and public. No one has the right to what is not his or hers. The right to enjoy what is yours depends on your respecting the right of others to enjoy what is theirs.

  7. Share with others your appreciation of the benefits and obligations of your rights. Rights shared are rights strengthened.

  8. Participate constructively in the organizational life. An organization depends on active and regular service. It depends equally on an adequately informed personnel -- both paid and unpaid.

  9. Help your rights survive by assuming responsibility for their defense. Your rights cannot survive unless you defend them. Their security rests on the individual determination of each of us to help preserve them.

  10. Respect the rights and meet the responsibilities on which your organization depends. This is the essence of a functioning organization. Maintaining it requires our common effort, all together and each of us individually.

Page Last Updated, 05/09/09

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