Local 237 highlighted these management tactics in a recent Halloween edition of a newsletter.
1. Stonewalling Stonewalling is a persistent refusal to communicate or engage. While OPSEU’s bargaining team has repeatedly indicated a willingness to negotiate and compromise, College Council has refused. Their “final offer” has not addressed any of faculty’s key issues and they have simply been unwilling to budge or bargain. 2. Blaming College management repeatedly blames the union for not bringing the colleges’ poor offer to a vote when the colleges have every legal right to bring it to the faculty themselves. They blame the government for poor funding, yet 23 out of 24 colleges, including Conestoga, are running surpluses. They blame faculty for taking a stand. We teach our children from a young age that blaming everyone else – and accepting none of the blame for yourself -- is not the way to handle a conflict or take responsibility for a solution. 3. Hyperbole Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement or claim, often using language that judges, criticizes or undermines someone else. Our college has used hyperbole in several cases. Referring to increased academic control as “dangerous”, for example, or to striking as “immoral.” While intended to hurt or mislead, this language has only served to inflame the conflict and strengthen our resolve. 4. Character assassination / Attacking There’s a key rule of respectful conflict management: attack the process, not the person. Our college seems oblivious to this rule, choosing instead to engage in the character assassination of our local OPSEU President. Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation, but not deal with the real issues. While some may believe all is fair in love and strikes, personal attacks reflect very poorly on the attacker and do not help build a bridge to resolution. 5. Projection and Avoidance We’ve heard college presidents and the CEC make claims that Bill 148 will take care of everything. This stance is a way to avoid responsibility and project it onto another organization or process outside of collective bargaining. In truth, collective agreements supersede the Bill, which means the colleges can further delay equal pay for equal work even once the rest of the province is held to it. Council refuses to include any proposed measures of Bill 148 at the table, which would immediately provide equity for partial-load members. 6. Fear Mongering Management’s delays are clearly intentional, designed to wear faculty down. They continue to fear monger by deliberately arousing public alarm about a long protracted strike. Presidents are spouting claims that the strike will continue for 7 or 8 weeks, because ‘the Union’ is making unfair demands. Let’s address the absurdity of the ‘long, protracted strike’ claim. College Presidents have issued a guarantee to students and to the community that students will not lose the year. The pressure point for the Colleges to reach a settlement and get us back to class is in the next 10-14 days. Make no mistake: This is a tactic to make us feel we have no choice but to accept the Council’s final offer, which bears a remarkable resemblance to their starting offer. This will not work. 7. The Ostrich ‘Everything is fine over here, folks. No problems whatsoever.’ Sound familiar? In psychology, avoidance is a maladaptive coping mechanism where we attempt to protect ourselves from psychological damage by avoiding reality. In the case of the colleges, avoidance - aka The Ostrich - is alive and well despite public opinion swinging hard in our favour. Labour movements around the province are lending their voice to our cause. University Faculty Associations are seeing strike votes of 85-95% in favour. Thousands of faculty and students have attended rallies and sent letters. Social media is exploding with support. It is time to get real about solutions, not play ostrich. These tactics are being used now because we are winning the battle for public opinion. It’s time for colleges to stop the scare tactics and focus on solutions.