Strike Three

Well management is certainly not afraid to proactively use power.

I suppose for them public opinion is paramount. In this case, it is their ultimate mechanism of power. But they are using it with desperation.

The College Presidents are scrambling. They are trying to stay one step ahead. Once you start using power with people, you can’t stop. Power games never end. They just go on and on.

Remember that we only use power when we need something. This is the BiPolar Nature of the Power Dynamic – it should never be forgotten. Just as a dog only barks when it is afraid, people only use power when they have demanding needs. The College Management is barking.

The College Presidents need this strike to go away in the same way it started - without anyone knowing how it happened. They need to look like they are solving it. Not that they have created it. So they are acting with power - fast and furiously and in a slight state of panic. Why else would they promise to teach courses?

Feeling the pressure, the Presidents came forward to the press. The public - principally the students - are concerned that those enrolled in college will have to forfeit their year because they will lose the last few weeks of the semester due to the strike.

In response to the questioning of the Press, College Management has guaranteed that the students will not loose their year. Moreover they have guaranteed that they will be able to complete their semester by the end of April. They have promised that they will have a plan any day now.

They say if necessary, the administrators will teach the courses.

They want to look like they have mastered this situation and will save the day. To me they look almost clairvoyant.

What a ludicrous promise. How could they even hope to accommodate this unless they already had the plan? They are talking about things that should appear out of their control.

I want my students to think of the movie we watched - The Last castle. Just like Gen Eugene Irwin in fighting the warden, they have learned how the respective players react to power in such circumstances. This is not the first faculty/education based strike. They have seen the battle plan so many times they can recite it.

Now that the Faculty Association has come forward to expose the intention of the Management to create the strike, the Management comes forward and proves that to be their plan by promising what we all expect.

They know that the strike will end in a week and a half because the Province will act with back to work legislation. They know that the Faculty will teach the students to the bitter end because they are the ones with genuine concern and affection for the students.

Management is not making any real promise to do anything because it will be done for them.

However they are exposing their need. They need to have the public blame faculty for the problem. They want to hide from the obvious fact that they have manipulated the students, the faculty and the public into thinking that it is everyone but the Management that is to blame for the strike. They want to dodge the bullet. They want to paint Dalton McGuinty into a corner and ambush the faculty at the same time.

They are using McGuinty’s need to be the Premier who saved education. He has claimed to be the saviour and now he has to put up or shut up.

They are using the students’ and the Faculty’s lack of preparation for a strike and need to get back to their respective tasks. The faculty and the students are in agreement – put pressure on McGuinty because the Management has no intention of coming back to the table let alone offering a meaningful settlement. The only way this strike will end is by legislation.

They are using their ability to force a strike by bad faith bargaining and their ability to use the press as an ally. Sadly they are using their ability to modify, manipulate and bend the truth. They are using their ability to lie.

They will work the press into pressuring McGuinty to come up with more money. They have cornered the Faculty into working extra hard without even an agreement in place. Remember this strike will end with legislation. That means the problem won't be solved. It will sent to arbitration. While the faculty struggle to help students complete the year, they still will not have a deal.

That is what the faculty bargaining team has been saying for months. The Management has been bargaining like they were preparing for arbitration.

All this manipulation to look like the hero to the students.

Of course that will be a fantastic feat of power if people don’t look through it. Power always seems to work best when it is secret. That is why we hate it so much. Management seem to have kept the shells moving fast enough to keep the public's eye off the ball.

Unfortunately there is one thing they have forgotten – Power destroys trust.

The Faculty have been played and they will never forget it.

Management predicts the end of the strike and the successful completion of the semester by the end of May. No clarvoyance there. They just know the playbook. Here is a better prediction for you. Next time, because of the Management’s use of power, the Faculty will use power too. In the next round of bargaining the Faculty will have saved a war chest of strike money. The College presidents will get a strike that takes place before the students have made their final payment for their tuition. The Faculty will have consulted with the students to get them on board. The strike will last two months. And then they will return to work ona work to rule. The Management will pay salary increases that are staggering and the students will sacrifice their year. But they will have the pleasure of exercising power by not paying their final installment of tuition. That will critically hurt the cash flow of the Colleges. It will use the real ability to affect their needs.

Further more the Province will anticipate they games and put pressure on the Management to bargain a solution. In fact they may permit the next strike to be the one that does let the students loose their year. They won't be forced to legislate back. They will remember how the College Presidents used power this time.

The next round of bargaining will be nasty because Power destroys Trust.

Think it is a good idea to use power?

Well… Strike Three – You’re out.