Friday, March 29, 2013
NEWS
HOW TO HUMILIATE AND INTIMDATE A MEMBER:
Publish the details of the financial settlement between the co-op and a current member
THE RATIONALE:
To instill fear in members that this could happen to YOU
THE PURPOSE:
Pure and unrelenting retaliation
THE OUTCOME:
Yet to be determined
Such was the newsletter distributed by our Property Manager.
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Well, I thinks this all ties in to your later post.
ReplyDeleteCo-ops, in theory, are supposed to be "communities" and everybody treated the same with respect, dignity and fairness.
Naturally, this means nothing if a Member somehow stands in the way of a coordinator/Board and their actions/inactionwrongdoing.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought there was this thing about "confidentiality." Boards and coordinators love to throw that out at Members when really it is them that don't want to be transparent and held accountable.
Of course, what the Property Manager did should result in all kinds of consequences. But I doubt the BOD will stand up for the Member. My experience has proven that BODs leaves too much of the running of the Co-op to their managers. It gives them less to do which is how they like it --- being volunteers and pretending to work for the Co-op's best interest.
Not saying that it happened in this case because I don't know, , but similar situations also happen when the BOD is in cahoots with the mgr or they themselves approve of or initiate such tactics. BODs seldom have clean hands --- or else they are in perpetual ignorance of what's going on around the complex.
Unfortunately, for the Member in question, what can they do? Protest to the Board? Send a letter to them? Confront the Manager? Expose it at the next Meeting?
By-Laws and Directors' Code of Conduct are replete with how confidentiality s/b treated. I'll just go by ours tho. The problem is that no penalties are proscribed for breaches. Even in the corporate world, only remedy is to sue but there has to be something that can be identified as "damages." Maybe OHRT case would address it it better.
Sadly, tho, I believe Co-ops (BODs and Coordinators) know that they're are pretty much insulated from committing such breaches. They know nothing tangible would stick and that the whole membership isn't likely to rise up in protest demanding heads on a spike.
If my Co-op is any example (and I think it's no different in this respect from most others) BODs and coordinators/ managers know exactly what they can get away with. It would take a monumental effort, and likely outside forces, to give them the requisite smackdown.
I'd love to share examples but no matter how I phrase them, sugar-coat them or whatever, I'd be outed. No that I'm living in perpetual fear of retaliation, I'm not. I just know when to use what strategy when.
And sadly, I've realized there's few others you can count on to help or jump the bandwagon. I work best sometimes when I work alone.