By Charles Loiacono    

  Save Us From Ineptitude

This is going to be difficult. I want to be frank, but I don’t want to be brutal. There are sensitivities and feelings to be considered.

            Then again, there is the need to keep the membership apprised of everything that affects them.

            I was genuinely moved by the expressions of praise and support spoken by members at the recent strike meeting. The confidence shown by the membership for the AFA leadership is gratifying. So, I have an obligation to have them see through my eyes what the AFA faces when the elected leaders sit across the table from the college negotiating team. And I am afraid that the truth might seem brutal.

            Here at NCC, negotiations are never negotiations. The other side comes to the table and says “no.” Then they take out their calendars and seek another date some time in the future for the next meeting. At that meeting they say “no” and take out their calendars once again and set a time for another meeting.

            After reading the September issue of the VANGUARD, and knowing that a strike vote was imminent, the BOT attorney asked for a “negotiations” meeting. It was set up for September 27th. We arrived first and waited. The other side arrived, sat down, and was silent. The silence lasted a few minutes. Then, the BOT attorney said, “Shall we chat?” We had come to negotiate, not chat! Puzzled as to the purpose, we asked if he had a response to the written proposals we had submitted months before. He said “yes,” he had. The answer was “no.” And so ended that “negotiations” session.

I have been in the business of negotiating contracts for a long time. I know the procedure. I understand the gambits. I recognize the roles. I feel the pressure. But, above all, I know that negotiations can work only if the players on both sides have skill.

            I won’t bore you with a discussion of all those things a skillful negotiator must understand about the purpose of sitting across the table, but I will tell you that I have come to believe that those who sit across the table from us lack even a scintilla of skill.

            I know that must sound unkind. But, I believe it to be true. All I have observed emanating from across the table is ineptitude—even to the point of their being unable to carry on an intelligent conversation. Beyond that, there is this one-dimensional approach to everything—this incredible predictability of trying failed moves time and time again.

            There is so much that is good about this college. Yet, in the one area that is perhaps the most important—labor relations—the college is sorely inept. 

            Once again, they have had to call out for help. Fortunately, a very skillful negotiator is riding in on his steed. Marty Scheinman is one of the most skillful in the business. You can bet that he won’t ask us if we want to “chat.” If he does not succeed in getting the college to negotiate in good faith, then we will know that it is more than ineptitude that makes it impossible for us to make any progress. At that point, I will say no—“No Contract, No Work.”

            New trustees are about to be appointed. They must find a way to create smooth transitions from one contract to another. The way chosen by this present Board does not work.