Righteous Indignation and Useful Idiots.

Here’s some texts I got this morning I’d like to share- 

Hey, I know you’re taking some heat for the shot at Chris and Mike but I feel it’s completely justified.  In my opinion the company is walking a very fine line of an Unfair Labor Practices complaint just by sending them both up here to “talk” to us.  They can claim they’re neutral all they want but the fact is they were sent to the slope by the company, are living in company housing and being paid by the company to collect information about this union effort.  These are not a few retirees that heard there was some union grumblings and showed up at a company bowling night of their own accord to find out what the fuss is about.  These guys are mercenaries employed by the company to gather information.  

Do you know what the red line/blue line is for negotiating?  

(I answered “no”)

I’ll send you a link, but basically the company needs to find out where exactly the battle lines will be drawn for bargaining.  They need to estimate what the ‘best case scenarios’ is (how cheap they can go on bargaining points), and what the ‘it’s cheaper to let them strike than to pay them’ scenarios are.  The way they estimate this is by figuring out from workers exactly what their diehard issues are.  I believe that’s what Mike and Chris are here to do, they might not know it, but the company is letting them burn up their reputation in an effort to extract information.

(I answered  “So they are spies”)

No, I wouldn’t say that is accurate.  They might actually think they are going to help find a happy medium, but that’s their egos in the way of logic.  Lenin called them "useful idiots". Here’s the thing- The company can not make promises at this point, it’s too late for that.  They might have told Mike he’s there to listen and help but that’s just another lie.  Honestly I have mixed feelings on this, these guys aren’t dumb, they should absolutely know that the time for promises has passed.  The company had an entire year from our last dust up [PTO and paycheck changes] to improve relationships and they simply used that time to create a hit list and derail us with the WorkForce Engagement BS. 

(I answered “I feel like they should have just stayed out of it.”)

Agreed.  They should have. They had every opportunity to not get involved. If they truly wanted to be peace makers then they should have offered their services as mediators when we go to bargain our contract.  But that isn’t what they did. They showed up as hired guns for the company, whether they look at themselves that way or not is irrelevant, that’s the fact. As far as their cries of “we need civil discussion and no personal attacks”, that’s easy for them to say, they didn’t have $50K ripped from their paychecks. We didn’t have a choice to be in this fight, they did.  And you’d have to be a supremely stupid mercenary to show up on a battlefield and then be surprised that people are shooting at you.  They are smooth talkers, not stupid ones, any cries of righteous indignation from them should be ignored.  In my opinion, they are absolutely fair game. 

(I asked "So ignore them?")

[That's] Probably the best move here. I wouldn't pour my soul out to them, that's for sure, what good could possibly come of it? The company hired them, not us. Just drive that point home a million times. Would the company spend money to send them here if it were in our best interest? Never. The company hired them, the company hired them. Repeat after me: The company hired them.