Video Analysis Nicki Minaj Beez in the Trap free essay sample

However, this is not the case; at the hands of a female artist, the women are exploited through disrespectful years and Inappropriate physical Interactions with the female artists, while at the same time the producers exploit the women by showing extreme close-ups of their barely-clothed body parts. Viewers listening closely to the words of Bees In The Trap find that the chorus and the majority of the first verse performed by Nick Minas exploit women in a manner like that of most male rappers.The song starts with the chorus and the first line Is, B****sees anti SSH*t and they anti sally nothing, of course the a-word referring the other women in the video. Going Into the first verse, the next few lines imply that he may be bisexual by saying, And if she anti trying to give it up she get dropped off. Let me bust that u-IEEE, b***h bust that open, might spend a couple thou Just to bust that open In translation, Nick Mina] says that if the female doesnt have sex with her, then she is dismissed from her (Nicks) group. We will write a custom essay sample on Video Analysis: Nicki Minaj Beez in the Trap or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A U-IEEE is when someone makes a hard U-turn to follow the very extremely attractive women in the car that Just passed by In the opposite direction. The last few words indicate that the artist Is willing to spend a few thousand dollars on the woman to have sex with her. If an individual were to read these lyrics without hearing the song or watching the video, he or she would think that this artist was a male rapper exploiting women as usual, when in reality it is a female rapper doing the exploiting.Many of the interactions between Nick Mina] and the other women in the video are somewhat homosexual. The women who are In the most scenes with Nick Milan are desperate for attention and are by the artists side at all times when the camera turns on: In other words, these women play the role of groupies. some scenes of the died show her sitting in the VIII section of the club wearing a green wig, a bikini, fanning herself with hundred-dollar bills. She is sitting in between two similarly exotic-looking women and the artist is putting her face and lips very close to theirs. Nick Mina] flirts with each one by making seductive faces at them. In another scene, Knick Milan Is standing between two different women who are bouncing and shaking their buttocks on her. One of the women has on a short spandex dress accenting her large rear end and the other one is wearing thigh-high fishnet stockings and a G- tiring.While they are Jiggling their butt cheeks the artist, with no hesitation, touches and rubs on their buttocks And appears to be enjoying it! In this video Nick Mina] interacts with these women the way that most male rappers interact with the women in their videos. Not only does the artist exploit the women In the video, but the producers and are short clips showing all of the women in barely-there bikinis, six-inch high heels, and their bodies are covered in tattoos. More than half of these short clips consist of extreme-close-ups of the womens buttocks and breasts.One clip during the bridge of the song shows a slow-motion, inappropriately close shot directly into a dancers anus (of course she was wearing a thong so her bare anus wasnt exposed)! Nick Minimas huge rear end and extra-large breasts are a very major part of her appearance, so video producers make that the focus of many of her female extras in her videos. In the business of hip hop music video production, it is no surprise to see a male rapper exploiting women. However, if it is a woman exploiting other women, in the case of Nic k Minimas Bees In The Trap,

Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides essays

Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides essays When Japan first attacked Pearl Harbor, exactly 60 ago, little was known about the Imperial Army. Their mentality seemed almost non-human. Even while General MacArthur was attempting to maintain America's ground in the Philippines this was so. Eventually, this lead to the surrender of the American army, the Batan death march, and imprisonment at Cabanatuan POW camp. These POWs were in fact elite soldiers of the sixth army. As the author of Ghost Soldiers, Hampton Sides, put it: They were the forgotten, an elite of the damned. The book begins with a long prologue describing the Palawan massacre at Puerto Princesa Prison Camp from the point of view of one of few survivors, Eugene Nielson. In fact, the majority of this book is described by World War II veterans who were either POWs or their rescuers. In the prologue, Nielson tells with little detail of how the Japanese imperial army managed to burn alive over 100 of his comrades and by which methods he and only 10 others managed to survive and swim to safety. Once in safety and within American lines, Neilson tells his story to high ranking officials in the army. This testimony brings the officers to a realization that the Japanese are inhumanly cruel to the POWs and the forgotten soldiers of Cabanatuan must be rescued. In addition General Mucci, in charge of the operation, is introduced along with his own man Captain Prince. After the prologue, the story begins introducing the first of the prisoners, Dr. Ralph Hibbs, a medic in the army who was stationed in Batan. In this chapter, the loosing battle between the American army and the Imperial army is described finally leading up to American surrender. At the beginning this seemed wonderful, the men were tired of fighting and low on supplies. The surrender seemed even promising since the Japanese were know for their good hospitality. Tommie Thomas, one of the POWs even tells the story of his surrender to general Homma...

Paramedic science degree (Medical) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Paramedic science degree (Medical) - Essay Example We then supported her back while she slowly stood. With the help of a walker, she walked a few steps outside her room. When she expressed that she was getting tired, we assisted her to the wheelchair and wheeled her into the rehabilitation clinic. She was also a very anxious patient and feared that she might fall again and further injure herself. She was also feeling depressed and melancholy; she felt like there was no point in her trying to recover from her injuries. Feelings (What was I thinking and feeling?) I felt that the process of assisting the patient was a long and tedious process; but I knew that it was something we had to patiently undergo. This step by step process of transporting the patient from each point to the next helps prevent further injury and ensures that the patient would be able to safely regain her mobility and independence. Regaining mobility and independence after partial hip surgery is crucial to the patient’s recovery. In a study by Freburger (2000 , p. 448), the researcher was able to establish that physical therapy after hip arthroplasty helps to improve patient outcomes and to ensure home discharge. I felt that discharging the patient to home care would help calm and ease her anxieties; calming her anxieties about falling is essential towards achieving mobility and independence. Evaluation (What was good and bad about the experience?) What was good about the experience was that, I learned the importance applying safe methods of moving and transporting patients. Safely transferring and transporting the patient from one point to another requires technique and guidance from the physical therapist. I learned that all elements of the transfer and transport must be coordinated with all the members of the medical team in order to ensure the safe and stable transport of patients (Durch, p. 209). The physical therapist was able to teach us proper techniques of transferring the patient – techniques which were not too difficult for the patient to adopt while also being ergonomically safe for the transport team to apply. Ergonomically safe techniques in transporting patients help prevent injuries on the part of the transport team (Nelson and Baptiste, 2004). What I found bad about the experience was that I felt like the medical team was pushing the patient too hard. Granting that early mobility would help her regain her independence, I could see from the patient’s demeanour that she really was finding the process very exhausting. I felt that we needed to include counselling also to her treatment in order to help her deal with her anxiety and post-surgery depression. Depression after surgery, especially for the elderly is a common occurrence. Treating that depression helps ensure that she would do well during the rehabilitative process (McConnell, n.d., p. 3). Analysis (What sense can I make of the situation?) This situation emphasizes the importance of applying safe methods in the transfer and trans port of patients. Post-surgery patients, especially the elderly, already have compromised mobility, but it does not mean that they cannot move at all or that they will never regain their mobility. Learning the safe and appropriate ways to assist them in regaining mobility is an important function for the medical team. In the process however, the team must also learn how to

360 Degree Feedback Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

360 Degree Feedback - Assignment Example 360-degree feedback system may however not be effective in assessing result-oriented performance, which are more quantitative such as sales and market share. When compared to the traditional performance appraisal, the 360-degree feedback can be said to be advantageous in how it ensures active participation by major stakeholders including employees themselves (Kaye, 2010). Such participation is enabled because includes an employee self-assessment to start the process. This way, the eventual outcome of the appraisal can be said to be the exact representation of employee performance. The feedback system may however be disadvantageous when an organization has to deal with a very large employee size. This is because such large size of employee and the use of 360-degree feedback may be highly time consuming. This is situation could also delay the turn-around time to get employees assessed. When used to measure ineffective and effective performance, the 360-degree feedback guarantees an in-depth understanding of factors that account for employee performance. This is because of the qualitative nature of the feedback system. but in cases where an employee’s performance is dominated by quantitative and numeric outcomes, the feedback system becomes inappropriate in measuring effective and ineffective

How Personal Experiences Shape the Way We Are Essay Example for Free

How Personal Experiences Shape the Way We Are Essay Everybody has their own share of experiences in life. Some have experiences that affect their lives. However, there are also some people who do think that their experience is just non-consequential. Well, in my point of view, I think experiences are very important for every individual. It shapes up the way people view things and sometimes it does change the attitude of the person. I have two events that I would like to share. I consider these experiences as very important and life changing. My first important experience was when I was seventeen. In our country, kids are required to take a public examination before graduating high school. The teacher gave the class two months to prepare for the examinations. Most of my classmates got serious during that time. I consider myself a happy go lucky person before. I will never forget what I did. I acted very irresponsibly. As the saying goes, Time is gold. Well, I didn’t really know what that means then. I hang out with my friends almost every day. My parents scolded me for being so negligent of my studies. They actually forced me to study several times and asked me to concentrate on it. I never did listen back then. It was a big mistake on my part. When the results of the exam came out, it was really disappointing. I remembered I was already working in my parent’s company. I could not even face my parents. After getting the results it is now time to go to college. My cousin and I went together for an interview. I felt so ashamed because my cousin has higher marks. When I got back home that day, I came to my mom and I cried. I apologized to her for not giving my best effort in the exams. I got into Santa Monica College. I’ve worked hard on each subject that I took. This experience had made me realize that nothing is for free in this world. If a person wants a good compensation, a good deed or a good standing, one must make efforts to achieve what they want to have. I hope this experience would give other people a lesson on prioritizing important things in life before having fun. Another experience that I would like to share was the time when I was in my ninth grade in school. I have joined an organization called â€Å"YMCA†. This organization supplies lots of community services to people. It takes care of the elderly, half-wit people and children. I get emotional when I see elderly people. The old people in the organization live by themselves in old broken apartments. Most of them are really lonely and are ignored. No one listens to them. In all that time, I saw myself in their shoes when I get older. I would not like to be treated in the same way by young people. I started to care for them by talking to them and cleaning up their apartments. Some talk to me happily and are really excited that someone is listening to them. However, some of them cry when you touch them. These reactions only show that most of the elderly needs more love and care from the younger people. This had shown me that lots of people need the help and love of others. It changed my views and made me care for my parents more. These experiences had given me a lot to think about. It made me a better person and I am proud to have experienced this in life. Not everything can be studied and read in the book. A person must go through these experiences in order to realize what they are taking for granted. Precious experiences such as these must be treasured.

Taizong versus Al Mawardi in Politics and Religion Essay examples -- e

The Taizong handout and the Al Mawardi source can be compared through their religious and political similarities and differences. These two sources have many similarities, yet they also have some key differences. They differ, for example, in their views of: ways a ruler or emperor should rule their government or empire, the use of the military, and the similarity between who will succeed and or shall be chosen for a right task in government. It seems as if the Islamic structure for government is much more strict than the Tang Dynasty, based on the fact that the Islamic government must follow the Koran and Hadith. One difference between the Taizong handout and the Al Mawardi source is the way an emperor or caliphate shall rule their government or empire. The Islamic ruler or caliph was elected by the people, which was the idea of the majority of the population, the Sunni’s. The job of caliph or ruler involved strict religious and political duties. The power of the government was complete as long as its ruler or caliph stuck to the Koran and Hadith. If something clashed with the Koran it could not be done. A ruler could not broaden his will so that he will be able to accept heaven and earth. The ruler had to follow the words of the Koran and had to follow the Islamic law, Hadith. The Islamic ruler at the time had to follow the Koran and Hadith, thus if this ruler did follow the Koran and Hadith it would constitute him and a good ruler. Emperor Taizong on the other hand believed there are other ways for an Emperor to act. Based on Confucian philosophy, â€Å"When the ruler looks as lofty and firm as a mountain peak and as pure, bright and illuminating as the sun and moon, the people will admire and respect him†. If this Emperor did... ...ons for the caliph. Knowledge about the religion, Hadith, and the government is required to be a caliph. One difference between Taizong’s advice and Al Mawardi’s ideas is the fact that in the Tang Dynasty there was Confucianism within the government, it was the examination system. To become part of the Tang Dynasty government, one must pass a Confucian based test. If one does pass the test they become part of the government. â€Å"Those with low intelligence or capability should not be entrusted with heavy tasks or responsibilities. If the right person is given the right task, the government can be governed with ease. Whether the emperor gets hold of the right person for the right task determines whether his empire will be well governed.† Determining whether the emperor gets the right person for the right job will determine how long the government and Dynasty shall last.

Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences

Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS) Vol. 31, No. 1 (June 2011), pp. 185-199 Unions and Management: A Case Study of Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Muhammad Shaukat Malik Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resources Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan E-mail: [email  protected] edu. pk A. B. Basit Associate Professor of Economics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur Ahmad Kamal Qazi Assistant Manager-Marketing, PTCL, Multan Pakistan. E-mail: [email  protected] com Abstract Unions basically seek to advance the interest of their members.As a principal goal, unions exert a strong influence on individuals, organizations and upon the government to advance the economic and social positions of their constituents. Union play significant role by adopting positions on such public issues as unemployment, job security, opportunity for advancement, tariffs, health care, wages, social security etc. They try to influence the decisions of not only the administra tion of individual organization but also the state legislatures to improve labor laws on variety of issues for welfare of their employees.In addition, unions by performing their fraternal goals provide a sense of belonging for employees to give them a sense of identification and purpose. This paper first traces the historical development of unions with particular references to Pakistan, highlight their merit and demerit, current position in public and private organizations and challenge they are facing at present. Second it examines the role of unions in Pakistan's major institution like Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTCL).It is observed that over the time union is loosing their positions in the world as well as in Pakistan like in PTCL. After privatizations since 2006 the state of the affairs of unions at PTCL are very pathetic. Employees have lost all their hopes that the union will ever work for their well beings. Unions need to review themselves to be accepted by the e mployee and the leaders have to work beyond their personal interests. Unions need to demonstrate a larger social vision as well. Keywords: Unions; PTCL; Collective Bargaining Agent 186 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. Concept of union evolved in 18th century and within hundred years, unions in organization become so strong that they become the most critical variable to be managed by the organizational management. Unions represent the non managerial staff of an organization and work for their rights i-e salary rise, promotions, better working environment and employee safety etc. Sometimes the agenda of unions contradicts with the agenda of management due to which conflict generates and if this issue is not resolved in its early stage, it could result in strikes, shutdowns, police arrests etc.Numbers of international event are evident to this theory. This paper aims to explore union role in the organizations and how they performed in different regimes in different orga nizations of the world and in Pakistan like Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL). The paper is structured as follows: Following the introduction, section 2. 0 provides literature review about the union’s history, their merits and demerits, their role in public and private organization, their progress in the world and in Pakistan.Section 3 provides an overview of Pakistan Telecom Sector and PTCL. Section 4 provides the methodology used for the study. Section 5 discusses the results of the study in detail and section 6 presents the overall conclusions and our recommendations. I. Introduction II. Literature Review Farbar (2001) defined labor union as â€Å"It is an association of workers who bargain collectively with their employer regarding the terms and conditions of employment†. Akteruzzaman (2006) says that labor unions as â€Å"Labor unions re voluntary associations of workers to promote and protect their interest by collective endeavor and constitute an integr al part of the relationship between the employees and employers†. Whereas, Gomper (2009) has given more comprehensive definition in a way â€Å"that labor union is a group of workers who have organized in order to pursue common work-related goals, such as better wages and benefits, safer working conditions, and greater job security†.By concluding all definitions we can say that labor union is â€Å"Organization whose membership consists of workers and union leaders, and whose principal purposes are to negotiate wages and working condition terms, regulate relations between workers (its members) and the employer, take collective action to enforce the terms of collective bargaining, raise new demands on behalf of its members, and help settle their grievances†. The concept of combined effort by the workers to protect their rights was initiated in 18th century from Britain.According to Mohar (2007), union were initially started in great Britain in 1780 when workers un ited against the Combination Act implemented by the then Prime Minister William Pitt but they did not succeed and faced even more bitter laws like The Gagging Act (1817), Six Acts etc. Relief was started with the introduction of the Master and Servant Act (1867), the trade union act (1871), Conspiracy and property act of (1875), The Employer’s Liability Act (1880).However the unions got their real strength in 1913 after the implementation of Trade Union Act which gave the unions the right to have its subscriptions into a political and a social fund. The trend of unionism in Britain afterwards expanded to USA. Reynolds (2009) says that in Muhammad Shaukat Malik, A. B. Basit, Ahmad Kamal Qazi 187 1860’s political philosophy began to shift toward collectivism and national trade unions gains a real foothold. According to Perlman (1922) point of view, in USA, trade unions really exploded during the nineteenth century with the founding of the first national union, the Nation al Labor Union (NLU).It was created in 1866 and was not exclusive to any particular kind of worker. Next, the Knights of Labor was founded in 1869. Their membership peaked around 700,000 members, with some of their key issues being child labor opposition and demands for an eight-hour day. The most famous American union was probably the American Federation of Labor (AFL), founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers. Afterwards, according to Allen (2005) in contrast to the craft unionism of the AFL, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) founded in 1905. It used violence to promote the cause of unskilled workers.The IWW virtually disappeared after World War I. In 1930s, the strategy of industrial unionism was pushed by John L. Lewis' Committee for Industrial Organizations within the AFL. Founded in 1933, the committee split from the AFL in 1938 as the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The Second Red Scare after World War II pushed the AFL and CIO into a 1955 merger as the AFL-CIO u nder Lewis' leadership. In Indo-Pak, as reported by Bawa and Hashmi (2010), the concept of collective labor was introduced by Malik Gokhale which was given legal identity through the introduction of Trade Union Act 1926.At that time, two most strong unions working under the influence of National Congress and Socialist Party were Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and Hindustan Mazdur Sabha (HMS). After the inception of Pakistan, the first trade union established in Pakistan was Pakistan Trade Union Federation (PTUF) having ties with INTUC and Mirza Ibrahim as its first President. Candland (2007) narrates the history of unions in Pakistan and say that up till 1952, no much developments were made in unions.In 1952, Pakistan Essential Services Act was promulgated which gave the government right to restrict any trade union and collective bargaining in any industry. First labor policy of government was announced on 15th August 1955, stating the workers to be the partners in industry, bu t no legislation was formulated in this regard. In 1958, General Ayub Khan imposed the martial law and abolished the first labor policy. On 4th February 1959, second labor policy namely Burki labor policy was announced which discouraged the labor unions and allowed the government to directly involves in the resolution of labor disputes.In 1969, labors started pressurizes the military government to get rights of forming trade unions with all powers, The government was ready to give the same rights but this policy could not overcome the unrest among the workers. This unrest among the workers was later cashed by Bhutto and he supported the union leaders. According to Shah (2010), Bhutto formulated the People Labor Federation for organizing the labor and through them he gained the powers which helped him lot to win election and become prime minister. After fall of 188 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. 1Bhutto government, in 1977 General Zia imposed the martial law and str ictly banned the union’s movement in Pakistan. This ban was partially lifted in the Junego government and later it was completely lifted by Benazir Bhutto in 1989 in her first tenure. Afterwards, more or less same policies were continued by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir in their respective regimes. General Musharraf right from beginning of his regime implemented several strict laws like Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002, Removal from Service (Special Powers) Ordinance, 2000 and other anti labor laws to limit activities of unions.In present Gilani's regime, some reliefs have been given to employees in pursuance of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto policies by announcing Workers Welfare Fund Ordinance, Employees Old-Age Benefit Act, amended Industrial Relations Ordinance with enhanced protection of worker, imposing condition on the authority of employer to terminate workers job etc. These polices are intact till date. Donas(2005) says that unions adopt two means to fulfill their goals. First an d foremost is through collective bargaining with the employer being as a representative of the employees.The second way they adopt is through efforts to influence government legislation. Union’s are working both in public and private sector organizations to protect the rights of employees. According to Edward (1989), currently unions are very strong in public sector. They have greater membership from the public sector organization. Blacnchflower and Bryson (2007) compared the union influence on wage in public and private sector and found that the unions working in public sector are able to get increase in the wage premium for the public sector employees substantially.They are of the view that although union membership in the both public and private sectors has declined, but unions are still more powerful in public sector. In order to avoid the decline in the membership of the unions, now unions are trying different strategies. Hamilton and Anderson (1999) stated that recent t rend among unions is amalgamation. Unions are getting united in order to preserve the membership. According to Fernie and Metcalf (2005), with around 12% of privately employed workers as members, the future for private sector unionization looks black.According to Pantuosco (2008), private sector unionization has lost nearly 4 million members, while public sector unions have sustained the growth they accumulated in the late 1980s and 1990s. Figure 1 Public and Private Union Density 1983-2005 Source: Pantuosco (2008) PP 35 Muhammad Shaukat Malik, A. B. Basit, Ahmad Kamal Qazi 189 Edward (2010) tried to explain the reasons of decline of unions in private sector by stating that public agencies tend to be static in a way that once a union has organized a group of workers they tend to stay organized.By contrast, the private sector is dynamic, with businesses going bankrupt and new businesses arising all the time. Also many public sector organizations are enjoying the status of monopoly an d unions in public sector push for higher pay and higher government spending with little restraint. They do not care if the cost of government services goes up because the burden is borne by someone else. By contrast, private-sector unions are aware that higher costs for employers may result in lost sales and fewer union jobs.Figure 2 Union Member Shares of Employment Source: Edward C. (2010) PP 1 Unions help the employees in lot many ways. Belman and Voos (1993) are of the view that unions typically help employees in raising the wages of the employees they represent. They also help in reducing income inequality within the represented firm, by reducing differentials between low-paid and high-paid diversified work force. Another important benefit of union mentioned by Ghosh et al. (2009) is that it helps to improve job security, working environment and living conditions.According to Morris (2002), trade union act as the protecting sheets against the threats posed by the globalization on the employees. Since globalization require maximum utilization of the employees to compete in the market and in this case only unions will be protecting employees by negotiating the working hours and work load on the employees. Ghosh et al. (2009) says that unions are engaged in a number of welfare activities, such as providing housing and organizing cooperative societies to improve the quality of workers' lives.In short unions restrict management freedom of action, pressurize them for uniformity of treatment, improve personnel policies and provide one plate forum to the employees to deal with management. Unions have some demerits too. According to Sherk (2009), trades unions can cause wages to go above equilibrium through the threat of strikes etc. and trade unions only consider the needs of its members. They often ignore the plight of those excluded from the labor markets, e. g. the unemployed.Also if unions go on strike and work unproductively, it can lead to lost sales and o utput. Another major disadvantage of union is paying the union dues. Most collective 190 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. 1 bargaining agreements require all employees to support the union financially as a condition of their continued employment. Another important demerit identified by Levine (2001) is that unions generally interfere with efficiency, because they protect unproductive workers, raise costs, distort incentives, and frustrate entrepreneurship.Hunter (1999) is of the view that unionized workers lost their individuality. When a union is certified as the exclusive employee representative in a workplace, employees become members of an overall bargaining unit in which the majority rules. Spear (2003) says that the existence of a union in an industry can result in limited choices regarding hiring new employees or even limiting the potential for dismissal of a poorly performing worker. Though internationally union's role can be seen differently in different cou ntries but its main objectives remains the same i. the welfare of employees working in different organizations. Countries like China even are bowed to allow unions at the work place and unions role/importance is increasing there day by day (Metcalf and Li (2006); Prit, 2007, Ghosh et. al (2009). The effectiveness of union’s role in Pakistan, according to Irfan (2008), has declined over the period. Unions have lost their membership because they failed to protect the rights of the working class.In Pakistan, unions mostly exist in all public sector organizations like Postal Services, WAPDA, Railways, PTCL and other government institutions and are thought to be the major reason of inefficiencies of Pakistan public sector. In private sector though union are found in many organizations but their activities are to some extent limited. A summary of union’s status in Pakistan between 1990 to 2006 is given in Table 1. Table 1 Years Trade Unions membership and Industrial Dispute Total Registered Trader Unions 7080 7027 7185 7273 7426 7349 7355 7356 7382 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA Union Membership Total No. f Membership Registered of the Trade Unions reporting Reporting Unions 1763 359633 1441 288803 1834 415768 1685 374731 1718 325677 1718 337617 1594 293530 1534 296257 1478 305340 1493 301104 1356 301332 1260 275646 1201 247539 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA Industrial Disputes Number Numbers Number of of of Workers Mandays Disputes Involved Lost 99 65918 186726 94 116306 582694 40 73357 398128 28 17133 404564 25 15434 341196 24 10919 63626 30 18566 203323 30 7865 283342 20 6097 122519 6 3937 182151 4 225 667 4 711 7078 4 516 12160 1 407 0 19 1164 1020 NA NA NA NA NA NA 990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Source: Irfan. M. (2008), Pakistan’s wage structure, PP. 27 Muhammad Shaukat Malik, A. B. Basit, Ahmad Kamal Qazi 191 Decline in the popularity of unions in Pakistan is also witnessed by Rehman (2003). He says tha t in Pakistan, membership in unions is low due to the fear of victimization by employers and the inability to recognize any personal advantage from the unions. The leadership is not effective due to personal rivalries and lack of required skills.Also union movements in Pakistan do not have the due social and political support since the political market has been generally dominated by powerful industrialization elite. Ebbinghaus (2002) is of the view that trade union movements are confronting multiple challenges. The challenges faced by the unions in Pakistan are also very critical. Cunniah (2007), is of the view that neo-liberalism is the biggest challenge for trade unions in Pakistan and is alive even after the establishment of new democratic government.The employers have another weapon at their disposal, the displacement of workers by machinery. Ali (1994) observed that one of the laws that hinders trade union activity is the Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1952 (ESA) (which covers government services and state enterprises, such as energy production, power generation and transmission, the state-owned airline, and ports) and is usually invoked to limit or ban strikes, and is also used to severely curtail collective bargaining rights.Another challenge raised by Somavia (2008) is that Pakistani law is particularly hard on agricultural workers who are denied the right to form unions and are thus prevented from striking, bargaining collectively, or making any demands on their employers. Pakistan trade union membership is very weak at this time. Only 0. 6% of the total workers are organized in the trade unions. About 7392 trade unions are registered in Pakistan which are representing the 2,55,405 members throughout Pakistan.Table 2 Total number of the work force Total numbers of the work force is as follow: Sector Agriculture, Forestry, Hunting & Fishing Mining, Quarrying Manufacturing Electricity, Gas, Water Construction Whole sale & Retailed Trade, Restaur ant & Hotels Transport, Storage & Communication Financing, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Sector Community, Social & Personal Services TOTAL Source: http://www. pakistan. gov. pk/divisions/bstat. pdf Million 18. 35 0. 03 4. 35 0. 26 2. 19 5. 12 1. 91 0. 31 5. 38 37. 9 Percent 48. 42 0. 07 11. 48 0. 7 5. 78 13. 5 5. 03 0. 82 14. 2 100 III. Telecomm Sector of Pakistan and PTCLPakistan has well established telecom sector at present. In 1947, at the time of inception, Pakistan has just 7000 telephone lines. Over the time, under different regimes lots of developments have been taken place to bring this sector at par with world. Under the sectors reforms different companies are allowed to 192 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. 1 work in Pakistan and new services like ISDN, DSL, CDML, GPRS etc. are offered by PTCL and other mobile companies working in Pakistan. PTA (Pakistan Telecom Authority) since 1994 holds the responsibility to regulate the telecom sector in Pakistan.P TCL has been privatized by selling its 1. 3 billions shares with management rights to U. A. E based company Etisilat since 12th April, 2006. According to Akhtar (2009), Pakistan’s Telecom sector has been gearing up to secure its place in fast developing era of new technologies. The government has been able to foster competition by declaring the telecommunication sector as an industry since 2005. The drive towards competition widened the scope for private and foreign ownership further through the deregulation policy announced in July 2003.From the beginnings of Posts & Telegraph Department in 1947 and establishment of Pakistan Telephone & Telegraph Department in 1962, Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) took over operations and functions from Pakistan Telephone and Telegraph Department under Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Act 1991. Pursuing a progressive policy, the Government in 1991, announced its plans to privatize PTCL, and in 1994 issued six million vouch ers exchangeable into 600 million shares. Each had a par value of Rs. 10 per share. These vouchers were converted into PTCL shares in mid1996.In 1995, Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Ordinance formed the basis for PTCL monopoly over basic telephony in the country. The provisions of the Ordinance were lent permanence in October 1996 through Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act. In the same year, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited was formed and listed on all stock exchanges of Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan sold 26% shares and control of the company to Etisalat in 2006. The Government of Pakistan retained 62% of the shares while the remaining 12% are held by the general ublic. Since privatization, PTCL profit is declined. Following are the financial highlights of PTCL since its privatization. Table 5 Financial Highlights of PTCL since it Privatization Unit Rs. (m) Rs. (m) Rs. (m) Rs. (m) 2010 57,175 14,281 9294 150768 2009 59,239 14021 9151 154048 2008 66,336 -4463 -2825 140104 2007 71,068 23744 15639 152821 2006 79,411 30974 20777 152240 2005 87,356 39296 26606 136078 Description Revenue Profit/Loss Before Tax Profit/Loss After Tax Total Assets Source: Annual reports of PTCL Currently PTCL has 19 registered unions..The union which is acting as CBA is â€Å"Pakistan Telecommunication employee union† whereas all other unions are non CBA unions. At the time of privatization about 57000 employees were serving PTCL. But after privatization, new management laid off 30,000 employees by giving Voluntarily Separation Scheme VSS. At present Multan Telecomm Region (MTR) covers area from Mian Channu to DG Khan and Rahim Yaar Khan. It is divided into two wings. One wing is of Regional General Manager wing which has 982 employees. Other wing is of GM Technical Multan which has 335 employees.Other than these wings another small wing is of SM Consumer Sales Multan which has 45 employees. So at present total numbers of employees work ing in all wings in Multan region are about 1362. PTCL is taken as case study because it could provide the glimpse of previously public sector organization and now as private sector organization. Unions are working in PTCL since long and had been very strong in past. They have also played crucial role at the time of privatization as well. 194 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. 1 IV. MethodologyA survey through questionnaires method was used to capture the primary data for this study. The research is done at Multan Region of PTCL. A sample size of 300 employees from different departments of PTCL of all its three wings has been selected by using the random sampling technique. The questionnaire was distributed to each participant in person. Firstly few open ended questions were included to enable participants to express their general opinions regarding PTCL management and union relations and then all close ended questions (Table 5) were asked to have specific answers. The response rate to the questions was 90%.The opinions of the participants are measured by obtaining the respondents extent of agreement with the questions. The extent of agreement was measured through Likert scale ranging from 5= strongly agreed to 1= strongly disagreed. The researchers have tried to find out the facts relating to following research questions. i. ii. iii. What role union played in Telecom Industry over the time (especially in PTCL)? What role union played in PTCL at the time of privatization of PTCL and then after? What is the current role of union in PTCL The questions wise results of the study are described below.Table 5 Summary of response to survey questions. No 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 Statement Are you satisfied with the role of unions before privatization? Do you think that CBA at the time of Privatization has performed his role effectively? Are you satisfied with the role of union currently? Are you satisfied with the role of union to stop layoff of employees after pr ivatization? Does your union take effective actions against the rehiring of voluntarily separated employees? Do you think that the rehiring of voluntarily separated employees was in the best interest of PTCL?Do you think that the pre privatization PTCL was good as compared to Post Privatization PTCL? Do you think that union’s role for Agree% 80 52 75 32 20 30 68% 74% Neither% 10 10 5 16 10 0 5 6 Disagree 10 38% 52% 52% 70% 70% 27% 20% V. Results and Discussions Muhammad Shaukat Malik, A. B. Basit, Ahmad Kamal Qazi 195 10 employee’s job security was better before privatization of PTCL? Are you satisfied with the union’s role towards current working environment of PTCL? 26 10 64% It is evident from the above results that union role in PTCL is diminishing over the time.It played very effective role for welfare and betterment of employees in the past but currently the state of affairs is not very good. Majority of the employees are dissatisfied with their performanc e. At the time of privatization, the role of CBA and UAC (Union Action Committee was very midtrial. They were firstly against privatization and have been fighting for three months and then suddenly one day they accepted privatization deal on term and conditions of the government. Employees feel that monopolistic status of PTCL was in the best interest of customers.Employees are also not so happy with rehiring of employee previously laid off under voluntarily retirement schemes, as they feel that these rehired contractual employees are enjoying dual benefits i-e benefits of retirement and new contracts. They are of the opinion that new hiring if so necessary should be done from youngsters having new skills to manage latest equipment installed in PTCL. Employees also feel that union is not doing any thing for their job security. Job stress created through increased work load is another major problem employees are facing currently.Now lower level employees give more preference to the m anagement for the resolution of their issues instead of unions. Employees have lost their fate that unions would do something for their betterment. Now employees are avoiding joining unions and believe on direct relationship with its management. There was a time when union in PTCL was thought to be the true representative of employees and only way for their growth. But on the critical occasion of privatization of PTCL, VSS and rehiring of VSS opted employees, the betraying role of union and CBA has dissatisfied them lot.The Union has now lost trust of employees. The management is becoming strong day by day through different measures. Some of the union’s representatives either are suspended or transferred, waiting for posting etc. But the union leaders are not paying any attention to their problems. That’s why employee’s commitment with the union has also been reduced. The management has successfully neutralized the power of union by reducing the strength of empl oyees. By lying off about 30,000 employees, management successfully took away the real strength of unions.Now they are trying different tactics in order to create hindrances in the activities of union. These tactics involve dismissing the employees participating in union activities, proper check and balance on the attendance of employees and indulging every employee with high work load. Another recent step taken by management to weaken the unions is giving the non-management employees, the cadre of management. in BPS-17. This conversion of cadre has made almost 3000 196 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 31, No. 1 employees unable to talk part in union’s activities.Therefore, a tug of war is going on between the typical government culture already prevailing in PTCL and a corporate culture which the new management is trying to enforce in PTCL. VI. Conclusion & Recommendations Unions in any organization work for the benefits of the employees. The most important roles whic h unions are meant to play are to reduce income inequality, improve working conditions for employees, protecting the rights of the working class, ensure homogenous income to the workers by providing them employment opportunities etc.But over the period of time, unions failed to perform their roles effectively, therefore, they are facing decline in their popularity and membership. Internationally, the trend of unions in organization is diminishing. PTCL is taken as case study because it could provide the glimpse of previously public sector organization and now working as private sector organization. Unions is working in PTCL since long and had played crucial role in its privatization It could provide the perfect information about the unions involvement and recent trends in public and private organization. Now management has upheld the lower level of mployees from the union activities by giving them status of more significance within the organization. Internationally and in Pakistan t oo, unions are very strong in public sector organizations as compared to private sector companies. In Pakistan Telecom Sector, unions exist only in PTCL. In PTCL, union remained very powerful before privatization. But after privatization since 2006, the new management has cut down union power by implementing different polices. The present management has been able to divert unions away from interest of employees by facilitating the top level leaders for their own interests.This thing has sabotaged the image of unions among employees. The employees feel more confident now with the commitment of the management rather than union. Majority of employees of PTCL now feel that leaders are not sincere with them. Employees think that during privatization union did not play its effective role as was expected. They blame that only top leaders of unions have ripe the fruits of employees' efforts but no demand of employees is fulfilled in true sense during privatization process. So these things h ave created mistrust between employees and union.That mistrust was truly endorsed when union call strike for pay rise in 2009 and majority of employees did not participate. Similarly, in 2010 referendum, 30% of the total employees have not participated at all. The management through different tactics is making unions ineffective. Management is not taking direct steps to reduce union’s strength but with indirect measures and back channel diplomacy, they are meeting its ultimate objective to wipe away unions from PTCL. The way union is working on other side, it is not seen too far. Muhammad Shaukat Malik, A. B. Basit, Ahmad Kamal Qazi 197Conclusively saying, union image as the protector of working class has been affected when union leaders use the plate form of union to get the advantage for themselves. Union has made themselves worth less in PTCL due to their own acts. They may not be able to get any support from employees in future. They must have to change the current strate gies and the top leaders have to work beyond their personal interests to regain the powers. They will have to work for the welfare of the employees as past. Otherwise, unions will be simply wiped off from PTCL like it happened in some other organizations hich have been privatized like PTCL. References Akhtar, M. H. (2009). The Impact of Macroeconomic Factors and Policy Issues on Telecom Sector Performance in Pakistan: An Econometric Analysis, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences. 29(2), 163-174. Akteruzzaman, M. (2006). Globalization: issues and Challenges for Trader Union Movement. The Social Sciences, 1(I), 29-34. 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