Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.Unjumble the words and match them to the descriptions. 1) ounin
2) eloepmey
3) tiocnoitepm
4) ntemaganem
5) onpoirdtuc
a)people who are in charge of a company;
b)an organization formed by workers to protect their rights;
c)a process of making things to be sold as products;
d)a person who works for someone else and gets money;
e)a situation in which people try to be more successful than other people.
2. Find the odd one out: |
|
|
|
1) cost |
pay |
salary |
wage |
2) to cut |
to reduce |
to raise |
to decrease |
3) mill |
factory |
plant |
workshop |
4) employee |
worker |
employer |
labourer |
5) conflict |
agreement |
strike |
dispute |
Text Analysis
1.How do you understand the statement: “Staff at S iemens, the electronics company based in Germany, have just agreed to work longer hours for less money”? What’s the tactic of the company’s management?
2.Which sentences from the text illustrate the following ideas?
1) The company promised to dismiss a lot of workers and change the production
site.
2) Another company made workers spend more hours at work with less salary.
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Discussion
1.Comment on the problems of a modern trade union movement. Which of them are crucial from your point of view?
2.Why have German employees agreed to work longer hours for less money? Are there examples of such situations in Russia?
14. Labour Unions Find New Ways to Attract Members
In the face of declining membership and financial difficulties there is an increasing awareness among Norwegian labour unions of the need to modernise their organisations in order to improve services to their members, as well as to recruit new members. Two labour union initiatives were launched in 2002 seeking to use new technologies to recruit and communicate with new members, or to contact nonunionised employees. Both are aimed at younger employees working in information and communications technologies.
In January 2002, the Norwegian Union of Graphical Workers launched a “digital labour union” concept – a trial project aimed at at tracting new groups of employees by means of ICT. It is meant to act as an alternative labour union organisation for employees in the ICT sector, and its services will on the whole be accessible only via the internet. The ICT sector in Norway is characterised by little labour union activity. However, based on the belief that all employees need and want their rights and interests to be protected, the new labour union is seeking to meet these demands by providing an alternative to the more traditional ways of pursuing trade union activities, which may seem alien to many new groups of employees, in particular to young workers within the ICT sector.
The “digital labour union” offers the same types of services given to the ordinary members, although in a more individually-oriented way. Members may receive advice and guidance with regard to traditional trade union issues such as pay and
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working conditions, as well as more individually-oriented issues such as career development and opportunities. The membership fees remain the same as for ordinary members. All communications, transactions and membership activities take place in a web-based or “virtual” environment. Via the internet, members may take part in discussion groups, and also obtain relevant labour union information, up-to- date news, professional information and so on. In future, the aim is also to develop the organisation into a professional forum for the exchange of views, experience and knowledge.
Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.Find words and word combinations related to the topic “labour unions”. Make up a diagram:
Guidance
Labour union
2. Put the words in |
|
the correct order. |
|
|
|
||
1) members – unions – labour – services – to – impr |
ove – their – have to. |
||
2) want – employees – their – and – all – interests |
– rights – to be protected. |
||
3) to recruit – younger – try – labour – employees |
– working – unions – in ICT. |
||
4) all – take – and – membership – via – activities |
– place – communications – |
||
internet. |
|
||
Text analysis
1.Look through the text and name at least four words (nouns and adjectives) which refer to the topic “modern communication tech nologies”.
2.Prove the following ideas using the text:
1)Modern labour unions face different problems today and they have to develop their organization in order to attract people.
2)Unionists may obtain various advice via internet.
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Discussion
1.Why was a new labour union initiative launched in Norway? What benefit can a new organization bring to trade union movement and workers themselves?
2.Work in pairs, use your imagination and describe a site of a new “digital labour union”. What information can be available fo r employees?
VII. THE FAMOUS PERSON
15. Bill Gates. The Richest Man in the World
Bill Gates is one of the most influential people in the world. He was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, the USA. He is a confounder of the most recognized brands in the computer industry with nearly every desktop using at least one software program from Microsoft. According to Forbes magazine Gates is the wealthiest man in the world and has been in the number 1 position for at least seven years.
His father, William H. Gates II was a Seattle attorney and his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates was a school teacher and a chairperson of the United Way charity. Gates and his two sisters had a comfortable upbringing. Seattle was once famous for producing Boeing aircraft, but is now better known as the home of Microsoft.
At school Bill soon showed that he was very intelligent. His favourite subjects were Maths and Science. At 13 he got interested in computers and began spending all his time writing programs and learning about computers instead of doing his homework.
Bill Gates started studying at Harvard University in 1973 where he met up with Paul Allen. Gates and Allen worked on a version of the programming language BASIC, that was the basis for the MITS Altair (the first microcomputer available). He didn’t go on to graduate from Harvard University as he left in his junior year to start what was to become the largest computer software company in the world, Microsoft Corporation.
After dropping out of Harvard University Bill Gates and his partner, Paul Allen set about revolutionizing the computer industry. Gates believed there should be a
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computer on every office desk and in every home. In 1975 the company Microsoft was formed, an abbreviation of microcomputer software. The success of Microsoft began with the MS-DOS computer operating system that Gates licensed to IBM. Gates also set about protecting the royalties that he could acquire from computer software by aggressively fighting against all forms of software piracy, effectively creating the retail software market that exists today.
With his great success in the computer software industry also came many criticisms. With his ambitious and aggressive business philosophy, Gates or his Microsoft lawyers have been in and out of the courtrooms fighting legal battles almost since the Microsoft began.
Now Bill Gates is one the richest men in the world. His wealth enabled Gates to create one of the world’s largest charitable foundations. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has an endowment of more than $28 billion, with donations totaling more than $1 billion every year. The foundation was formed in 2000 after merging the “Gates Learning Foundation” and “Williams H. Gates Foundation”. Their aim is to “bring innovations in health and learning to the gl obal community”.
Bill Gates continues to play a very active role in the working of the Microsoft Company, but has handed the position of CEO over to Steve Ballmer. Gates now holds the position of “chairman” and “chief softwar e architect”. He lives near Lake Washington with his wife Melinda French Gates and their three children. Interests of Gates include reading, golf and playing bridge.
In March 2005 Gates received an “honorary” k nighthood from the Queen of England. Gates was bestowed with the KBE Order (Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his services in reducing poverty and improving health in the developing countries of the world. After the privately held ceremony in Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Gates commented on the recognition, “I am humbled and del ighted. I am particularly pleased that this honour helps recognize the real heroes our foundation supports to improve health in poor countries. Their incredible work is helping to ensure that one
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day all people, no matter where they are born, will have the same opportunity for a
healthy life, and I am grateful to share this honour with them.”
Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.Guess the meanings of the following notions:
a)n., an electronic machine that can store information and do things with it according to a set of instructions called a program;
b)n., the sets of programs (instructions) that you put into a computer when you want it to do particular jobs;
c)n., the care and training that parents give their children when they are growing up;
d)n., the illegal copying and sale of books, tapes, videos, software;
e)n., an organization that gives money to charity;
f)n., money or gifts given to help people who are poor, sick etc.
2. Match the adjectives with the appropriate nouns to make word combinations,
make up your own sentences with these word combinations:
1. recognized |
a) community |
2. influential |
b) upbringing |
3. poor |
c) role |
4. global |
d) brand |
5. active |
e) countries |
6. comfortable |
f) people |
Text Analysis
Decide whether the following statements are true or false. Prove your ideas:
1)Bill Gates started studying at Oxford University.
2)He set up the largest computer software company in the world.
3)Gates created one of the world’s largest labour organizations.
4)He lives near Lake Washington with his family.
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5)He is fighting against all forms of software piracy.
6)He got an honour for his services in reducing the level of unemployment in the developing countries of the world.
Discussion
Speak on the following topics:
1)Bill Gates and his school years;
2)Students’ years;
3)Bill Gates and the Microsoft Company;
4)Bill Gates Philanthropy.
16. Henry Ford
Henry Ford (1863-1947), an American industrialist, is best known for his pioneering achievements in the automobile industry. Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, and educated in district schools. He became a machinist's apprentice in Detroit at the age of 16. From 1888 to 1899, he was a mechanical engineer and later chief engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, after experimenting for several years in his leisure hours, he completed the construction of his first automobile, and in 1903 he founded the Ford Motor Company.
In 1913, Ford began using standardized interchangeable parts and assembly-line techniques in his plant. Although Ford neither originated nor was the first to employ such practices, he was chiefly responsible for their general adoption and for the consequent great expansion of American industry and the raising of the American standard of living. By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing productivity, had resulted in a monthly labour turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, largely because of the unpleasant monotony of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production quotas assigned to workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily wage then standard in the industry, raising it from
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about $2.50 to $5. The net result was increased stability in his labor force and a substantial reduction in operating costs. These factors, coupled with the enormous increase in output made possible by new technological methods, led to an increase in company profits from $30 million in 1914 to $60 million in 1916.
In 1908, the Ford Company initiated production of the celebrated Model T. Until 1927, when the Model T was discontinued in favour of a more up-to-date model, the company produced and sold about 15 million cars. Within the ensuing few years, however, Ford's preeminence as the largest producer and seller of automobiles in the nation was gradually lost to his competitors, largely because he was slow to adopt the practice of introducing a new model of automobile each year, which had become standard in the industry. During the 1930’s Ford adopted the policy of the yearly changeover, but his company was unable to regain the position it had formerly held.
In the period from 1937 to 1941, the Ford company became the only major manufacturer of automobiles in the Detroit area that had not recognized any labour union as the collective bargaining representative of employees. At hearings before the National Labour Relations Board Ford was found guilty of repeated violations of the National Labour Relations Act. The findings against him were upheld on appeal to the federal courts. Ford was constrained to negotiate a standard labour contract after a successful strike by the workers at his main plant at River Rouge, Michigan, in April 1941.
Early in 1941, Ford was granted government contracts whereby he was, at first, to manufacture parts for bombers and, later, the entire airplane. He launched the construction of a huge plant at Willow Run, Michigan, where production was begun in May 1942. Despite certain technical difficulties, by the end of World War II (1945) this plant had manufactured more than 8000 planes.
Ford was active in several other fields besides those of automobile and airplane manufacturing. In 1915, he chartered a peace ship, which carried him and a number of like-minded individuals to Europe, where they attempted without success to persuade the belligerent governments to end World War I. He was nominated for the office of U.S. senator from Michigan in 1918 but was defeated in the election. In the
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following year, he erected the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit at a cost of $7.5 million. In 1919, he became the publisher of the Dearborn Independent, a weekly journal, which at first published anti-Semitic material. After considerable public protest, Ford directed that publication of such articles be discontinued and that a public apology be made to the Jewish people.
Advancing age obliged Ford to retire from the active direction of his gigantic enterprises in 1945. He died on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn. Ford left a personal fortune estimated at $500 to $700 million, bequeathing the largest share of his holdings in the Ford Motor Company to the Ford Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.What do the underlined words / phrases mean? Can you explain them in English?
2.Make up appropriate word-combinations (verb + noun). Write down three sentences of your own using these phrases:
a) to initiate |
the contract |
b) to adopt |
the holdings |
c) to negotiate |
the government |
d) to bequeath |
the contract |
e) to grant |
production |
f) to persuade |
fortune |
g) to leave |
the policy |
Text Analysis
1.Make the topical vocabulary on the following notions: a) Science and technology.
b) Business and commerce.
2.Comment on the following statements:
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1)The working practices of Henry Ford.
2)The secrets of the success of the Ford Company.
3)Ford’s activities in other spheres of public life.
Discussion
Discuss these questions in pairs:
1)Who is the best-known industrialist in the automobile industry?
2)Can you describe the first stages in the career of Henry Ford?
3)When did he set up his company?
4)What were the results of his innovations?
5)What was the period from 1937 to 1941 for the Ford Company?
6)In what sectors was Henry Ford popular? What were his achievements?
7)When did Henry Ford die?
8)What did he do with his personal holdings?
VIII. ENGLISH IN THE WORLD OF WORK
17. England as Seen by Americans
Terry Tomscha talks about her experience of living and working in England, where she has been for the past eleven years.
I = Interviewer, T = Terry
I So, Terry. You've been in this country quite a long time now. What differences do you notice between the two countries?
T Obviously, the biggest difference is the people. The average Englishman is
. . . mmm… cold and not very open. In the States it's ver y different. We start conversations with people in the street, in the subway. We're a lot more enthusiastic and spontaneous than people here. You know, when I first came, I couldn't understand why I was getting so little reaction from people, but now I see that they thought I was overpowering and that I was trying to be too friendly too soon.
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