History Of Unions And Their Relevance In Todays Society Essay -- essay

Following the lead of Britain from where many of the original settlers came, workers in various occupations banded together to form unions. Ship writers, boat builders, tailors, bakers and carpenters were among the first craft unions form in Australia before 1848.By forming an association workers could obtain better wages and working conditions. However the employers wanted the highest profit margins so wished to keep wages low and spend little money on the working environment. The law of supply and demand in the labour market often determined which group was dominant.A third factor in the balance in Australia was the government. A successful strike by newspaper workers in 1829 for better wages and conditions resulted in the Masters and Servants Act being implemented which discriminated against the workers, who could be gaoled for minor revolts.Early in the colony, skilled labours were in short supply but in the 1840's after active promotion of emigrants by Britain this improved and a depression forced wages down and jobs were lost. With the discovery of gold, prices and wages rose, labour was scare and licenses imposed on miners and the Eureka incident occurred. Bust and boom economic conditions paroled surges recessions for unionism over the next few decades. The industrial union formed in the 1880's as a grouping of workers within an industry and across colonial and the Shearer's Union and small bush workers unions became the Australian Workers Union. Unions then looked to represent workers in Governments and the 1890's major strikes were held and the Labour Party was formed.With coming of Federation compu lsory arbitration - settling of disputes between employer and employee by a third party - encouraged unionism, with unions representing the workers. The labour market and demand for goods has been influenced by world wars, depressions and recessions. In the 1980's 'national reconciliation' initiated by the Government, aimed at resolving some of the conflict between workers and employers.Strong leaders among workers of various occupations over the last two centuries, have been gaoled, sometimes killed, starved, abused, seen their families suffer for better working conditions.At the beginning of the industrial revolution, employers knew their workers and felt responsible for them. After the industrial revolution gained momentum they employed more peop... ...ld of the MUA would be good for the Australian economy and lead to reform and increased productivity.At a meeting of the full council of the Business Council of Australia, a statement was issued reaffirming its view that "radically improved productivity and efficiency in waterfront operations remain one of the major reform challenges facing Australia."The conflict between the MUA and NFF may be long and bitter with many casualties, Patrick among the first, but with the present federal and state governments prepared to become involved. Changes will take place soon.Changes is fundamental to our life and unions have evolved over the last two centuries and will continue to change as global and reform issues rise and ware. Their significance will be determined by their ability to adapt to the needs of workers and society as the workplace changes.BIBLOGRAPHYThe Making of Australia: Unions, Politics and Workers 1978The Australian (Newspaper March 16th)Australia's Heritage Vol. 19 Hamilyn HouseInternet Web Site: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au">http://www.smh.com.auInternet Web Site: <a href="http://www.biz.yahoo.com.au">http://www.biz.yahoo.com.au

Management Efficiency Ratios: Burger King vs. McDonalds

This paper seeks to compare Burger King (BK) with its competitor McDonald (MCD) in the restaurant industry, using their financial statements as basis in terms of profitability and management efficiency ratios for the latest fiscal year. This will also discuss the concept of operating cost, evaluate the annual and year-end results of the two companies, and interpret BK as takeover target compared with its competitors. Burger King’s profitability is obviously lower than MCD.Based on net profit margin for year 2008, BK had 7. 3% as compared with MCD’s 18. 3% for the same year. The same behavior may be observed in terms of pre-tax margin, where BK had 11% as against that of MCD at 26. 2 % for the same year. It is only in terms of gross margins that BK has exceeded that of MCD but the net margin and pre-tax margin are better ways to measure profitability as expenses need to be deducted further.For purposes of comparing the net profit margin and pre-tax margin of the two comp anies against the industry average, BK is worse but MCD is definitely better. The Return of Asset (ROA) of BK is 7. 1% for the 2008 and is lower than that of MCD, which reflected ROA of 14. 9% for the same year. The results of these ratios further confirmed earlier observation in net profit margin. The same better profitability is further observed in terms of Return of Equity (ROE) where BK showed 22. 2% for 2008, which is still lower than MCD’s 30.1% for 2008. While ROA measures how efficient management a company is in terms of assets employed in business, ROE measures how much management is compensating resources invested by stockholders, the results would still reinforce earlier finding that BK, is less profitable and less efficient than MCD. The less profitability and efficiency of BK as against MCD is also further proven in terms of the former’s lower receivable turnover of 18. 67 for 2008 as against 23. 7 for MCD and 46. 8 for industry average.Inventory turnover for BK is not possible because of its absence of inventory for 2008 while that of MCD, the figure is over 100 times for 2008, which is even higher than industry average. Even if no comparison could be made in terms of inventory turnover, there is sufficient evidence to show better profitability and efficiency for MCD as against BK. To discuss the concept of operating cost for operating a business, the same must be minimized in order to maximize profits since costs or expenses must be deducted from revenues in order to derive profit.The lower the cost, the higher would be the profit assuming revenues are the same. To evaluate the annual and year-end results of the two companies and interpret BK as takeover target compared with its competitors, there is need to look at profitability and management efficiency of the two companies. As found out, BK was less profitable and less efficient than MCD. However, a company wishing to take over another company does not necessarily follow that it can also take over a better competitor of the target for many reasons.What must be controlling on the part of the company making the takeover is the expected profit of the takeover, both over the short and the longer-term, and which should be higher than the cost of capital or operating cost in order to justify the takeover. It can be concluded that BK may be less profitable and less efficient than its competitor MCD may, but if the profitability of BK could improve the profitability and efficiency of both the acquired and the acquired company combined together after the takeover, there is still justification to continue the takeover of BK.References:MSN (2009a) Financial Ratios of Burger King, {www document} URL http://moneycentral. msn. com/investor/invsub/results/compare. asp? Symbol=US%3aBKC, Accessed April 17, 2009.MSN (2009b) Financial Ratios of McDonalds, {www document} URL http://moneycentral. msn. com/investor/invsub/results/compare. asp? Symbol=MCD, Accessed April 17, 200 9.

Social Construct On Gender Roles Essay - 2270 Words

Ailyn V. Gutierrez Romanes Professor Hussein Elali ENC 1101 5 December 2016 Social Construct on Gender Roles Social constructs are ideas that are created by societies that are not representations of reality. Usually ideas that are socially constructed are seen as the norm because they have prevailed within societies for several years. These ideas have developed as generations have passed them on and as societies have become more liberal. Social constructs can range from various topics but, in gender roles social constructs have caused a significant impact because these ideas dictate what is wrong and what is right for men and women to do. The rules that societies have created for each gender have been modified over the years, but they have affected the decisions that each person makes and has led to disagreements when something out of the norm is done. The reason that some of these ideas have changed over time is because family dynamics have changed, education is more accessible and societies have become more advanced. As societies and communities developed they began to transform family dynamics. The socially constructed idea of gender that was originally created for the family was that the men had to work and the women had to stay at home and take care of household chores. These ideas were constructed base on past societies and communities but in today’s societies it is an idea that happens but rarely because societies today are constructed differently. 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