Sabotaging through purposeful procrastination

Solution 1:

I believe that strategy would generally be referred to as "delaying tactics".

Some comments mentioned "running out the clock", which is a sports metaphor from timed sports. I've heard it used as a metaphor in other arenas, although its most applicable when you know exactly how long you need to delay.

In the work arena specifically, there is a tactic called work-to-rule, where the employee gums up the works by following every single workplace rule to the letter.

Solution 2:

cunctation: delay, procrastinate

playing the Fabius Cunctator game

totally cognate with your Polish expression, surely exist in English too.

You Polish people think you are the only ones importing stuff from Latin? :-))

Kunktatorstwo surely is based on the Latin Cunctator, which is drawn from the agnomen of this famous historical character in old Rome

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator (/ˈmæksɪməs/; c. 280 BC – 203 BC) was a Roman politician and general, who was born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was a Roman Consul five times (233 BC, 228 BC, 215 BC, 214 BC and 209 BC) and was twice appointed Dictator, in 221 and again in 217 BC. He reached the office of Roman Censor in 230 BC. His agnomen Cunctator (cognate to the English noun cunctation) means "delayer" in Latin, and refers to his tactics in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War. He is widely regarded as the father of guerrilla warfare due to his, at the time, novel strategy of targeting enemy supply lines in light of being largely outnumbered.1 His cognomen Verrucosus means "warty", a reference to a wart above his upper lip.2

Wikipedia - Fabius Maximus

As to the name:

cunc·ta·tion noun \ˌkəŋ(k)-ˈtā-shən\ plural -s : delay, procrastination

Origin of CUNCTATION

Latin cunctation-, cunctatio, from cunctatus (past participle of cunctari to hesitate) + -ion-, -io -ion — more at 1hang

First Known Use: 1585

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

As to the expression, it was commonly used by Churchill (and his son, writing here his biography), and certainly known, e.g., by all those Oxford & Cambridge-educated British people, so strong in Antiquity.

Winston S. Churchill - Page 865 Randolph S. Churchill - 1969

I have always been in favour of this Fabius Cunctator game as simple, obvious, safe and practical; and I am still.

Now that I've presented you something that is totally cognate with your Polish word, I'll challenge you to be fair and adopt them :-))

Solution 3:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 'filibuster'. Although it usually refers to a legislative assembly, I've heard it used in other contexts and it seems like a clear choice to me:

filibuster

an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.

Definition from google.

Solution 4:

Passive aggression:

Passive-aggressive behavior is the indirect expression of hostility, such as through procrastination, stubbornness, sullenness, or deliberate or repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible.

Wikipedia

From Psychology Today:

Passive-aggression is frustrating to its targets, since it's not as easily identifiable—or unacceptable—as, say, socking someone in the jaw would be.

Solution 5:

I think you mean "work-to-rule"

  • Work-to-rule is an industrial action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract, and precisely follow safety or other regulations in order to cause a slowdown, rather than to serve their purposes. Such an action is considered less disruptive than a strike or lockout; and just obeying the rules is less susceptible to disciplinary action. Wikipedia
  • work-to-rule "a job action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of a workplace in order to cause a slowdown." TFD