An earlier piece on racialism in mining (see two postings down) has elicited one fine comment, and a great deal of discussion around the office. The only discussion I will partially record was at lunch with a young fellow who heads a failing junior-mining company. He is a miner and a Canadian and I respect his opinions and stories. Particularly the one I note below on racialism in negotiations to open mines.
I asked him about his experiences with local (i.e., BC) First Nations folk in getting to meet with them and to mine on territory that is theirs or claimed to be theirs. He told me that in the junior-mining industry the rule is that you won’t get to talk to the First Nations people easily. The general experience is that you arrange a meeting, but it is cancelled. You arrange another meeting and they do not come. Then more appointments and more disappointments. He told me his friends recommend keeping a record of all this so when you go to court you can document your attempts to consult. And he told me that often the court agrees and you are off the hook.
This is a terrible story, a terrible practice, and scary when you put it in the context of the racial overtones of that is the way they negotiate.
I challenged him and asked if this was a cultural thing, a racial thing, or simply smart negotiating. We need not delay on his answer, except to say that after some heated words we agreed that it is a damn smart negotiating tactic. Namely, keep ‘em on tenter-hooks until the last minute when they will be prepared to pay you more to keep the project going.
Thus I am left wondering if there is any particular form of negotiating that is not universal. I will have to seek out the handbooks on negotiating to see if this approach is included. The danger is that if a particular form of negotiation is utilized too often it becomes associated with negative connotations. Well maybe there is nothing wrong with that, if that is what you choose to do to win the negotiations.
For surely the desire to win is universal. There are good negotiators and bad negotiators everywhere. I am convinced there are good men and bad men in every nation, state, group, tribe, caste, or race if you will. The trick is to find the good men and to limit the damage wrought by the bad men. Notice I purposely exclude the issue of good and bad women from this consideration. One fight at a time, please.
