@Kosonen: so what do you think of this latest announcement from the society then ?
Good for them, I suspect that the Governing Body members themselves were uncomfortable reporting their hours, so I think they themselves were especially happy to remove it.
They have always claimed that they follow the first century christian congregation. But really? There is still so much to get rid off to be like the first century christian congregation.
Delete all pioneers, delete the Governing Body it self. There was no Governing Body in the first century. Every congregation was independent. By the time the apostles were scattered to different places. Apostles and other disciples wrote independently their own letters, among them the disciple Luke and he wrote that others had also written about Jesus, so he decided to do that also. Jesus was the head of the congregation, and not a Governing Body.
Only once was a problem solved by the elders and apostles in Jerusalem, according to the Bible.