The Challenges of Communicating With Union Members in the Higher Education Environment

W. Meyer, NTESU-UKZN

This paper will discuss some of the challenges of communicating with a diverse Union membership within a multi campus Higher Education institution.

Among the challenges outline will be:

• The necessity of using electronic media in a multi campus institution balanced against the constant suspicion of management surveillance.
• The challenges of finding the right wording and discourse level for notices in order to avoid:
• Overburdening members with unnecessary information balanced against keeping members fully informed.
• Creating unfocussed anger among members at the results of negotiations.
• Accusations by management of bringing the institution into disrepute, when reporting on management tactics.
• The constant challenge of keeping mailing lists, websites etc. up to date in the day to day life of the Union.
• Communication in crisis situations