I remember, it must me around 10 years ago, when the hours were reduced to where they are now. I was the secretary then and the CO was getting hard on the Reg pioneers that didn't make the 1000 hrs per year. He just about told the Service Committee to get ready to delete the regular pioneers. We had 14 at the time, and only one made their time ( this was an older sister who had no obligations)
Then as if by some big surprise, a new K.M. came forward with the reduction in hours.
The pioneers are still having problems with the current hr requirement. I did hear that in the Ukraine that the Reg pioneers requirements are 60 hrs per month, though. This was the requirement over 15 years. Maybe they are doing this because of this.
Anyways, some regular pioneers know that this coming, but are unsure of when they will announce it.