Bethel - Forced retirement question

by pratt1 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  pratt1

  I was recently told by a friend that many bethelites that attended congos in Brooklyn NY were among thoses who were asked to leave.

  According to my friend, many of these bethelites were offered the chance to serve as "special pioneers" in other areas. These other areas were rural areas in the US and the Borg has offered to pay for their housing and living expenses indefinitely if the agrred to stay in the full time work.

  Since this friend is an inactive dub (like myself) who always feels the need to defend the Borg, I have some misgivings about this information.

  Does anyone have any factual information about compensation being given to members of bethel who were asked to leave?
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  tijkmo

  as has been previously discussed this information is correct as i understand it.

  but i also believe that the offer was not made to all those forced to leave.

  the 'lucky' ones were offered special pioneering which comes with an allowance and additional payment towards housing and clothing...and due to their age and length of time at bethel it may be that the hour requirement was waived.

  but others were sent back to their homes and told to regular pioneer which required getting accomadations and work for themselves. not a pleasant deal considering many had given up everything to follow the wts recommendation to make bethel their life.
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  Mary

  According to my friend, many of these bethelites were offered the chance to serve as "special pioneers" in other areas. These other areas were rural areas in the US and the Borg has offered to pay for their housing and living expenses indefinitely if the agrred to stay in the full time work.

  I doubt this actually transpired for a couple of reasons:

  1. It would have been a lot cheaper for them to house and feed the ex-Bethelites at Bethel, rather than pay for their housing and living expenses indefintely out in the real world;
  2. They don't care enough about whether or not someone stays in the full time work. As long as they don't have to foot the bill for you any more, the ex-Bethelites are now the problem of the congregation----not headquarters.

  While I'm sure that they were 'encouraged' to continue pioneering, it would have to be on their own dime, not the Society's. For them, the bottom line is the Almighty Dollar. They have no qualms about kicking someone out of what was their home for 20 or 30 years, when these poor saps were assured that they'd be taken care of 'as long as this System of Things is here.'
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  Blueblades

  Since when has the society given out money? They take in money. If they were to do such a thing as has been noted by this inactive person, it would be paid out of our money, contributions, the rank and file's world wide work fund. However, this will never happen.

  Blueblades
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  sir82

  Regarding special pioneers, it should be pretty easy to verify. If anyone has access to the latest Kingdom Ministry, and also any KM from say 2 years ago, you could compare the counts of special pioneers in the monthly service report.

  I seem to recall that the number of special pioneers has increased by a few hundred from what it was 2 years ago, but I don't recall the exact numbers (and don't have my KM collection with me).

  Of course they laid off well over a thousand persons, so obviously not all got offered the "special pioneer" carrot.

  Regarding living expenses: Typically, special pioneers serve way way way out in the boondocks, where cost of living is lower. The monthly stipend might be a several hundred dollars per month - by combining those "incomes", a special pioneer pair could rent a mobile home and live on beans & rice, but not much more. And it's highly likely that there is no medical insurance, auto insurance, etc. being paid for them. Trust me, the Society is not losing money by sending them out to special pioneer.
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  NewYork44M

  I am aware of some older bethelites who are set for life. The society maintains nursing facilites for a select lucky few. They are more than happy to talk about how caring they are.

  BUT, for the rest including COs and DOs, the society is not so caring to those who dedicate their lives for the "truth." There is no question that the layoffs targeted those middle aged men who create no value and were planning on living their lives at bethel. The society needed to get rid of these before they acquired a long-term disability.

  They could easily offer special pioneering as an option. However, most will never be able to sustain this activity for an extended period.
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  metaspy

  If this post is referring to the thinning of bethel in the not-so-distant past, then the answer is simple.
  
  Bethel asked the bethelites to leave (like it was really a question) and encouraged them to pioneer in the hall of their choosing.
  They would be given 3 months of "full time service" status despite actual service time.
  In other words they were told "don't let the door hit you on the way out".
  the majority were not offered CO, DO, Special Pio status.