Pareceu-me ter havido por aí um foguetório com aquilo a que João Dias da Silva terá anunciado, à saída da reunião no ME, como o fim da divisão da carreira.

De facto, lendo as duas folhecas A4 que o ministério apresentou aos sindicatos, lê-se na alínea 1 um parágrafo com o texto: «Carreira com uma única categoria, sem divisão entre professores titulares e não titulares».

Claro que já se tinha percebido que, desde que perdeu a maioria, o PS estava disposto a tirar o “título” aos “titulares”. Tal como o PSD, o CDS e os partidos da oposição à esquerda.

Mas, para quem não ande só a ver passar os comboios, sempre foi claro que o “título” era coisa que podia cair em qualquer momento. Já o constrangimento no acesso aos escalões mais altos da carreira seria coisa bem mais difícil.

Até porque os chamados “partidos do arco governativo” (seja lá isso o que for) só sabem conter o défice orçamental à custa dos salários, e não através da contenção das “derrapagens” nas empreitadas que lhes garantem o financiamento partidário.

Daí que a segunda das 2 folhecas a que me referi contenha esta verdadeira pérola:

«As condições de progressão na carreira promovem a necessária selectividade da progressão, como forma de estimular e premiar um melhor desempenho, mediante a fixação anual de vagas para acesso ao 3º, ao 5º e ao 7º escalão.»

Usando as “doutas” palavras de João Freire, que cumpriu a encomenda do anterior governo em Dezembro de 2005, «Há progressão quando, sem modificação das funções exercidas, o profissional reúne certas condições (de tempo de serviço e outras, dependentes do mérito individual) e, assim, passa ao escalão indiciário seguinte (o que lhe confere um aumento da sua remuneração), sem dependência de um qualquer contingentação;»

Ora, ao prever uma qualquer “fixação anual de vagas”, o ministério está a fazer depender a progressão de uma contingentação, o que contraria o princípio enunciado.

A isto acresce um facto ainda mais grave: não se propõe qualquer critério (objectivo ou subjectivo) para definir o contingente anual de vagas em cada escalão. Nem se diz se a contingentação será fixada a nível nacional, ou se vai ser calculada por agrupamento/escola.

Em conclusão, parece não haver nada a festejar. A leitura do texto apresentado aos sindicatos revela que, para o governo, tudo se resume a contenção orçamental. Tirando as questões de ordem financeira, ditadas por Teixeira dos Santos e Pinto de Sousa, a “proposta” é de uma pobreza conceptual confrangedora, permitindo antever uma impreparação técnica ao nível da que existia com a anterior equipa de MLR.

Curso de Animação Sociocultural para a Infância (80h)

2ª Edição

11 De Dezembro a 17 de Fevereiro 2009

Este Curso tem como objectivo o desenvolvimento de um conjunto de competências básicas ao nível das técnicas de animação em contexto educativo.

Se estiver interessado(a) em participar, por favor, contacte-nos.

Preço: 255€

Pode efectuar o pagamento através de Transferência Bancária através do:

NIB 0035 0664 0001 1922 4306 5

Workshop

Necessidades Educativas Especiais!

5 De Dezembro 2009

Este Workshop tem como objectivo apresentar aos Educadores/Professores ou outros Técnicos estratégias de trabalho concretas, particularizando para os casos de Dificuldades de Aprendizagem; Dislexia; Hiperactividade e/ou Défice de Atenção e Problemas Emocionais.

Realiza-se no dia 5 de Dezembro (Sábado) das 10h às 13h e das 14h às 18h, nas nossas instalações em Vila Nova de Gaia, se estiver interessado(a) em participar, por favor, contacte-nos.

Preço: 42€

Mais informações: Centro de Formação Crescer a Sério

Rua do Emissor nº 114 Esq. Bloco A

4400-436 Vila Nova de Gaia

Tel: 227721373

formacao.cresceraserio@gmail.com
www.centrocresceraserio.com

Campanha APDASC

Sem ter ainda lido o que foi proposto pelo ME, nas reuniões de hoje com os sindicatos de professores, limito-me a especular com base nas afirmações de João Dias da Silva, reproduzidas na imprensa online e no blogues de professores.

A propósito da criação de contingentes para acesso aos 3º, 5º e 7º escalões da carreira, veio-me à memória o célebre e pouco divulgado estudo de João Freire (esse mesmo, o guru de Mª de Lurdes Rodrigues), que a páginas 41 e 42 discorre sobre os princípios da “progressão” e da “promoção”, fazendo uma primeira abordagem à questão da contingentação das categorias.

Este pormenor da contingentação enunciado por João Freire tem evidentes semelhanças com o que terá sido apresentado hoje pelo ministério. Evidentemente que fica por esclarecer qual o critério de definição das vagas de acesso à categoria imediata, bem como o seu universo, i.e., se estamos a falar de um contingente nacional, ou se vai haver contingentes por agrupamento/escola, com as dificuldades e injustiças inerentes.

Os princípios de base dos sistemas de progressão e promoção na carreira vigentes na função pública desde as reformas de 1989-91 parecem-nos aceitáveis, não necessitando de ser postos em causa para efeitos de uma reestruturação da concreta carreira docente, em apreciação. Deste pressuposto resulta um benefício para a estabilidade e facilidade de compreensão do conjunto do sistema. Mais rigorosamente, continuaremos a trabalhar com base nas duas noções seguintes:

- Há progressão quando, sem modificação das funções exercidas, o profissional reúne certas condições (de tempo de serviço e outras, dependentes do mérito individual) e, assim, passa ao escalão indiciário seguinte (o que lhe confere um aumento da sua remuneração), sem dependência de um qualquer contingentação;

- Há promoção quando, mediante um processo voluntário, o profissional, tendo reunido determinadas condições (essencialmente, de tempo de serviço), se candidata ao acesso a uma categoria profissional subsequente, sujeitando-se às correspondentes provas de avaliação dos seus méritos, em termos absolutos e relativos, e, satisfazendo às respectivas exigências, é provido nessa nova posição (e correspondente escalão indiciário com remuneração acrescida), com assunção de funções profissionais alteradas, e de maior responsabilidade, em relação às anteriormente exercidas. No processo de promoção pode haver, ou não, contingentação dos lugares a prover nas categorias superiores.

8.3. A questão da contingentação das categorias profissionais existentes numa carreira pública é geralmente operacionalizada através da instituição do mecanismo dos “quadros orgânicos”, que estabelecem os quantitativos de pessoal a prover em cada categoria. No actual ME existem também quadros ditos “de escola” e “de zona pedagógica”, que são utilizados fundamentalmente para efeito dos concursos nacionais de colocação dos docentes, que se têm vindo a realizar anualmente.

Admitindo a possibilidade de se criarem categorias profissionais diferenciadas dentro da carreira em apreço, haverá que articular adequadamente a composição daqueles quadros com a eventual existência de uma contingentação para o acesso às categorias superiores, em função das necessidades do sistema. Voltaremos ainda a este assunto, mais adiante.

Freire, João (2005). Estudo sobre a Reorganização da Carreira Docente do Ministério da Educação – Dez. 2005

Neste últimos dias vários colegas e amigos me têm perguntado o que penso sobre o resultado das negociações, que se vão iniciar amanhã, entre o ME e as duas grandes federações sindicais de professores – FENPROF e FNE.

A minha resposta tem sido invariavelmente que não me parece que venha a haver um entendimento rápido e total, mas que o governo está disposto a não insistir na aplicação do DR 14/2009 e a eliminar a categoria de professor-titular. Tudo o resto (e é o fundamental) só será resolúvel em sede de debate parlamentar.

Dito isto, importa explicitar os conteúdos desta resposta.

O DR 14/2009 (prolongamento por um ano do simplex) constitui a grande janela de oportunidade para Isabel Alçada aparecer como a “fabricante de pontes” com os professores. Trata-se de uma “coisa” sem pés nem cabeça, fruto da incompetência e teimosia de uma equipa de má memória. A actual ME irá agitar a bandeira da sua suspensão, como prova de boa vontade negocial, até porque está consciente da sua inexequibilidade.

Quanto ao “título” dos titulares, não passa disso mesmo: um título sem valor, nem significado. Como tal poderá ser abandonado, o que servirá para apaziguar a quase totalidade dos professores (exceptuam-se uns quantos vaidosos, a quem o “título” subiu à cabeça). Ao mesmo tempo permitirá o alargamento do campo de recrutamento, para o exercício de cargos de gestão intermédia, a todos os professores que já tenham atingido um escalão a definir (por mim aposto no 8º, embora não tenha dados empíricos que me permitam afirmar que será esse o patamar de diferenciação).

Quanto ao resto Isabel Alçada não terá autorização para ceder, nem mais um milímetro. O resto é a suspensão dos efeitos dos muito bons e excelentes para efeitos de concursos, a introdução de uma forma (prova) de selecção para acesso aos escalões mais elevados da carreira, o fim das quotas para a avaliação e para a progressão, para além de todos os aspectos relacionados com a organização dos horários de trabalho, a precarização dos vínculos laborais e o modelo de gestão.

Destes “restos”, alguns serão solucionados de acordo com as reivindicações dos professores e dos sindicatos, através da intervenção concertada dos partidos da oposição. Será o caso das quotas e dos efeitos das classificações atribuídas no 1º ciclo de avaliação.  Mas isso demorará ainda algum tempo.

Já os aspectos relacionados com a precarização dos vínculos laborais, os horários de trabalho e a definição das componentes lectiva e não lectiva, ou o modelo de gestão e aumento da influência dos municípios no quotidiano escolar, só poderão vir a ser alterados com recurso a muita persistência, unidade e luta dos professores, sob a orientação de sindicatos fortes e intimamente ligados à escola.

Na verdade, a convergência de interesses e visões que aproximam PS, PSD e CDS, ligadas a uma concepção da escola como um instrumento ao serviço do capital humano e da globalização neo-liberal, não deixa grande margem de manobra a quem entende a escola como um local de cultura ao serviço das comunidades, para formar cidadãos que sejam capazes de contribuir para uma sociedade mais justa, mais equitativa e com maior igualdade na diversidade.

Por tudo isso, sabendo que nos próximos dias conseguiremos alguns ganhos, é fundamental que os professores continuem mobilizados e prontos para mostrar a unidade necessária à continuidade da luta. Sem qualquer receio das palavras.

Source: WND

Planned Parenthood’s abortion quotas exposed
Ex-director: We’d have client goal every month

Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson with Coalition for Life Director Shawn Carney (photo: Coalition for Life)

A former director of a Texas Planned Parenthood branch who resigned after she watched an ultrasound-guided abortion told WND the clinic was pushing employees to strive for abortion quotas to boost profits.

“There are definitely client goals,” former clinic director Abby Johnson said. “We’d have a goal every month for abortion clients and for family planning clients.”

Johnson, 29, said the Bryan, Texas, Planned Parenthood clinic performed surgical abortions every other Saturday, but it began expanding access to abortion to increase earnings.

“One of the ways they were able to up the number of patients that they saw was they started doing the RU-486 chemical abortions all throughout the week,” she said.

RU-486 chemical abortions kill the lining of the uterus, cutting off oxygen and nutrients, resulting in the death of an unborn baby. Johnson said the chemical abortion costs the same as an early first-trimester abortion: between $505 and $695 for each procedure.

She told WND the clinic was experiencing financial difficulties due to the economic downturn.

“Abortion is the most lucrative part of Planned Parenthood’s operations,” she said. “Even though they’re two separate corporations, all of the money goes into one pot. With the family planning corporation really suffering, they depend on the abortion corporation to balance their budget, help get them out of the hole and help make income for the company.”

She continued, “They really wanted to increase the number of abortions so that they could increase their income.”

Now Planned Parenthood has retaliated against Johnson, filing a restraining order against her because the clinic fears she may leak confidential information.

The Brazos Valley Coalition for Life, a pro-life group that recently moved its headquarters several hundred feet away from the clinic, is named on the temporary restraining order as well. The injunction temporarily prevents her from releasing information until after a hearing scheduled for Nov. 10 in the 85th District Court.

Planned Parenthood claimed in court documents that Johnson copied private personnel files and other documents before she quit her position Oct. 6. The abortion provider’s lawyers expressed concern that Johnson would disclose client medical records, doctor information and clinic security procedures. The restraining order contends Planned Parenthood would be irreparably harmed by an information leak.

However, Johnson told WND, “I don’t have any confidential documents, so I’m not sharing anything because I don’t have anything. I have no patient information. I’d never do anything to compromise patient safety or confidentiality. For them to even make that type of statement is so offensive.”

Planned Parenthood of Southeast Houston released the following statement Oct. 30: “We regret being forced to turn to the courts to protect the safety and confidentiality of our clients and staff, however, in this instance, it is absolutely necessary.”

Coalition for Life photo illustrates how close pro-life group’s building is to Planned Parenthood clinic.

Johnson said she’s not sure why Planned Parenthood is so concerned.

“Planned Parenthood is an organization that really runs on fear. If somebody crosses them, they are quick to threaten that person. I’ve worked for them for a long time and seen them threaten lawsuits multiple times,” she said. “I’m not sure what they’re scared of. When I first got the restraining order, I was so surprised. My initial response was, what do they think I know? What are they feeling guilty about?”

Asked whether she believes Planned Parenthood is concerned that information about its quotas will become public, Johnson responded, “Probably, yeah. I think they’re just scared of the whole thing.”

She said she believes the injunction is simply a scare tactic meant to keep her quiet.

“Clearly, that kind of backfired,” she said.

Johnson explained that she resigned after she saw an ultrasound-guided abortion in which an unborn baby was vacuumed out of a woman’s uterus.

“Ultrasound-guided abortions are not typically done in Planned Parenthood abortion centers because they’re more time-consuming, and that’s just not something that centers like that do,” she said. “I’d never seen one of those done before. For whatever reason, the physician had called me back to assist with the procedure. When I saw that, that was really when my heart was changed.”

Johnson, who was employed at the clinic for eight years and served as a director for two years, said the issue of abortion was “unsettling” for her the whole time she worked with Planned Parenthood. She said she kept “pushing down the guilt” and felt spiritually unsettled.

“There’s no religion and there’s no spirituality in an abortion clinic. There can’t be,” she said. “Whatever side you are on, pro-life or pro-choice, it is what it is – and that’s taking a human life.”

Najat Belkacem, porte parole de Ségolène Royal, et adjointe au maire de Lyon répond aux questions de Sciences Po TV en marge de son invitation aux Rencontres avec des Grands Témoins du mardi 28 novembre 2009.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has their main front page article on how H-1B quotas have not been used up yet and argues that the market should dictate the numbers rather than Government quotas.

Arbitrary quotas have been ruled unconstitutional by all courts in every domestic affairs except for immigration law. You cannot have quotas for segregation or desegregation, for diversity in public education. You cannot have quotas at workplace. We read in Law School that quotas inherently violate due process. But I had to throw my constitution down my office window when I started practicing immigration law.

When the colonists came to America, there was no problem, no quotas. White Anglo Saxon Protestants could simply come and work. Then as more and more Italians and Chinese came in, restrictions began to be put in from 1875 onwards. Chinese were banned because they were “Coolie labor” for lewd and immoral purposes. After World War 1, the Congress restricted immigration to 2% of their nationality already settled in America. Since there were no non white people in the US at that time, most of Asia and Africa was shut out from the US. This was done to preserve the racial mix in the United States. Since then a lot of restrictive immigration Acts establishing arbitrary quotas were enacted and still valid today. The Permanent Residency Process has quotas in both Employment based and Family Immigration. So does the H-1B program for bringing in the brightest and the best.

These quotas have risen from anti Immigration and Xenophobic attitudes prevalent in America. As the Wall Street Journal points out, why should a very bright person from say India or China come to the US to be treated as a second class citizen, at the bottom of the social ladder? They would rather stay in their own country which are emerging economies. Yet, as the WSJ articles point out, 35% of Microsoft patents were developed by immigrants, and the person who developed Google News was an H-1B from India.

Those patents will just go to India, and someday the children or grandchildren of these anti immigration forces will seek immigration to India.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee, for more information.

IACCM’s recent study of the global economy revealed growing concern about the impacts of the recession on business ethics. In particular, many commented on the extent to which sales representatives were over-committing or overstating capabilities.

A report by CSO Insights on sales compensation and performance management offers useful perspectives on why this may be happening. Based on input by more than 1,000 companies, the research reveals growing pressure on sales teams from higher quotas – in many cases up by almost 40%. As a result, the percentage who make quota has fallen – down by more than 10% in the last year, to just over 50%. When combined with delayed deals and longer sales cycles caused by the recession, it is not surprising if many sales people feel a sense of desperation.

There are many problems associated with over-commitment. Most obviously, it undermines trust – both by customers and by those who support sales. This tends to make negotiations far harder and causes both sides to push for protective terms.

Interestingly, the biggest single reason identified by sales as the cause of losing business is ‘the competitors price and terms’. This was highlighted by 79.6% of those responding. Product superiority comes a distant 4th, with just 22% citing it as a cause.  So again, our community may well be at the forefront when it comes to observing overcommitment – and perhaps we should also be at the forefront when it comes to driving change.

If this is something that Procurement, Sales Contracting and Legal care about, what can we do to fix it? The CSO Insights report is blunt about the problem. “Companies elicit the behaviors they reward”, it states, commenting that “Compensation plans typically track three or fewer metrics”. Not surprisingly, those metrics have no connection with ethics or terms and conditions.

Sales compensation schemes are generally believed to be relatively effective in driving sales behavior, but they cause focus on new accounts, new products, farming existing customers and cross or up-selling. Utilizing the established sales process comes 8th on the list of behaviors – with just 22% adherence. Sales also show little interest in sharing practices or accurate forecasting, because while these are declared priorities, they are not rewarded as practices.

Many complain about the narrow metrics of Procurement groups, focused strongly on driving price reductions and claiming notional ’savings’. This is the direct counterpart of revenue-driven sales activity. Far too often, neither side is directly interested or motivated by outcomes, beyond getting a contract signed. While this continues, the contract inevitably becomes a battleground for honesty and protection – and meaningful collaboration (internal or external) is a victim.

In an ideal world, those involved in negotiating and managing contracts would push for more balanced and appropriate performance incentives and metrics. Certainly this is an area where we should seek to exercise greater influence. But at a more immediate and practical level, we should also consider ways that we can facilitate better deals with more appropriate terms and processes.

For example, one key pressure for sales groups is the amount of time they spend overcoming internal barriers to higher productivity. In many organizations, up to 25% of sales time is spent on contract-related issues. Perhaps if we tackled those inhibitors and freed up more sales time, they could afford to be more honest. And second, if indeed price and terms is the most important reason for losing against competition, what are we doing to address that concern and ensure the terms we offer equip us to win. Indeed, how often do we even know what terms our competitors are offering?

So before we cast too many stones at our colleagues in sales, it is perhaps time to examine whether we are truly doing all we can to assist their success – and the prosperity of our company.

Australia, which is responsible for about 40 percent of the world’s catch, must cut its take by almost a third… From VOA. Full story

This site may contain information about: fashion store. For a different topic see potato recipes. The blog is also related to: fashion books.

A Bruxelles lundi, plusieurs milliers de producteurs de lait venus de toute l’Europe ont bloqué le quartier Berlaymont de la capitale belge où les ministres de l’Agriculture se rencontraient lors d’un « déjeuner informel » sur la crise du lait.

L’ultra-libérale commissaire danoise à l’agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel, en acceptant que cette réunion ministérielle pour « analyser la situation »ait lieu, a surtout tenté de « réguler » non pas les prix, mais la colère des agriculteurs en grève depuis le 10 septembre. D’ailleurs, elle précisa d’avance qu’aucune décision ne serait prise avant le rendez-vous officiel du 19 octobre.

Ensuite, à la fin de la rencontre, avec un mépris indescriptible, Mme Fischer Boel, soutenue par les champions du libre échange qui sont la Grande Bretagne, le Danemark, la Suède, les Pays-bas et l’Estonie, déclara que le secteur va devoir « s’ajuster à un monde sans quotas ». Pour elle, pas question d’y revenir.

En ce qui concerne d’éventuelles aides supplémentaires aux producteurs de lait, dont les revenus ont connu des baisses de 30 à 50% depuis la chute vertigineuse des prix, Mme Fischer Boel, en cherchant à diviser le monde agricole, annonça que « au vu du budget 2010 de la Politique agricole commune (PAC), nous disposons de marges de manœuvre extrêmement limitées. Et pour dégager de nouvelles ressources, il faudrait demander aux Etats membres de payer plus, ce que les ministres des Finances refuseraient immédiatement, ou de réduire les subventions à d’autres secteurs que le lait ».

Digne du libre échangiste fanatique Peter Mandelson pour qui c’est la PAC qui affame la planète et non le libre échange, Mme Fischer Boel a eu le toupet de déplorer « l’image désastreuse » donnée par les producteurs lorsqu’ils déversent leur lait dans les champs. « Ces images ont détruit la réputation de l’Europe dans les pays en voie de développement en laissant penser que les agriculteurs détruisent de la nourriture à grande échelle uniquement pour recevoir plus de subventions », a-t-elle affirmé.

Les syndicats agricoles n’ont pas tardé à dénoncer cette attitude qui détruit bien plus la réputation de l’Europe que leur combat pour la survie et la sécurité alimentaire mondiale. Pascal Massol, le président de l’APLI (Association des producteurs de lait indépendants) avoue qu’il attendait « plus de résultats concrets de cette réunion ». L’APLI en appelle « désormais aux chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement européens pour qu’ils tapent du poing sur la table ». Pour sa part, la Coordination rurale estime que « Les ministres et la Commission prennent la responsabilité d’une situation quasi insurrectionnelle dans les campagnes, avec une colère qui devrait unir l’ensemble des agriculteurs, laitiers ou non, de l’Europe entière pour faire changer la PAC qui les fait disparaître ».

Il ne reste que notre ministre de l’Agriculture, Bruno Le Maire, pour crier « victoire ». Mme Fischer Boel, non seulement accepte la proposition franco-allemande, soutenue par 18 autres pays membres de l’UE, de créer un « groupe de réflexion » pour imaginer une « nouvelle régulation agricole » fondée sur la « contractualisation », mais elle accepte qu’on y examine une idée géniale avancée par Le Maire : la création d’un marché à terme pour le lait en poudre et le beurre !

Le quotidien économique Les Echos du lundi 5 octobre révèle que l’action de Le Maire, qui co-signait une lettre avec sa contrepartie allemande, Ilse Aigner, affirmant que de nouvelles formes de régulation étaient nécessaires « pour que le secteur laitier ne dépende pas uniquement des seules règles du marché », est parfaitement en phase avec les projets de la bourse néo-zélandaise et le New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext. D’ailleurs, « l’entreprise de marché transatlantique compte lancer au premier semestre 2010 des produits financiers dérivés sur le lait écrémé en poudre et du beurre sur le Liffe [London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange], sa place londonienne de négociation des contrats à terme ». « Ces contrats sont prévus pour donner lieu, le cas échéant, à une livraison physique », précise Les Echos.

Aux Etats-Unis, le beurre et le lait sont parmi les premiers produits pour lesquels des contrats à terme ont été cotés, dès la fin du XIXe siècle. La Bourse de commerce de Chicago, le Butter and Egg Board, qui a vu le jour en 1898, s’en est chargé dès ses débuts. Au fil des décennies, cette bourse est devenu le Chicago Board of Trade. Cette dernière vient de fusionner avec le Chicago Mercantile Exchange en 2007 pour devenir le CME Group. En mettant la main sur le New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) en 2008, la société est désormais la plus grande Bourse du commerce du monde et le beurre et le lait y sont toujours cotés.

Le Maire annonce d’ailleurs qu’il se rend à la mi-octobre aux Etats-Unis pour y étudier la filière laitière. Même les Echos pensent qu’il « n’est pas certain qu’il parvienne à des conclusions définitives quant à la capacité des produits dérivés de lisser les prix de long terme. Emporté, à l’instar des autres matières premières, par la crise globale du crédit, entre la mi-août et le début janvier 2009, le prix du contrat sur le lait pour le fromage a en effet dévissé de 35%. La situation s’est tellement aggravée pour les producteurs que, à la fin du mois de juillet, le département américain de l’Agriculture s’est dit prêt à acheter des contrats pour en soutenir les cours. Au même moment, l’administration Obama a décidé de consentir une hausse temporaire de 15% du prix payé pour le lait en poudre et de 16% de celui pour la fabrication de fromages. Signe que les marchés des dérivés ne constituent pas une panacée, surtout quand la spéculation financière s’empare d’eux. »

En clair, si le prix du lait ne sera fixé, ni à Bruxelles, ni à Chicago, grâce à Bruno Le Maire, il le sera à Londres, car c’est là que les marchés à terme opèrent ! Livrer notre sécurité alimentaire et les conditions d’existence de nos agriculteurs aux corbeaux spéculateurs de la tour de Londres, voilà ce qu’on appelle désormais « faire l’Europe ».

Source : Nouvelle Solidarité

Here’s an excerpt from a story by Stephen Castle, from NY Times. Note that the story says Europe is planning to phase out quotas by 2015. What does that imply about the future of supply management in Canada’s dairy industry?

A farmer sprayed raw milk on policemen during a protest against falling milk prices outside the E.U.’s headquarters in Brussels, where agricultural ministers discussed its policies at an emergency meeting. Photo George Gobet/Agency France Press/Getty Images, via NY Times

“BRUSSELS — After months of complaints by European dairy farmers angry over low prices, protesters in Brussels on Monday poured milk onto the streets, hurled eggs and other missiles, and started fires that filled the air with black smoke.

Police helicopters hovered overhead as hundreds of tractors — and some cattle — blockaded the area outside the European Union’s headquarters while agriculture ministers met in an emergency meeting.

The gathering of ministers, convened after pressure from France, failed to produce any breakthroughs apart from a decision to set up a committee to report on the dairy industry in June.

Monday’s protest was the latest by farmers who dumped around three million liters of milk on fields in Belgium last month.

“There’s a very serious crisis in the milk sector,” said the Swedish agriculture minister, Eskil Erlandsson, who headed Monday’s discussion. “We didn’t take any decisions today, but we identified areas where the future policy needs to concentrate on.”

The protest organizers, the European Milk Board, said that more than 1,000 tractors and 5,000 people took part on behalf of “more than 80,000 dairy farmers”.

The group said milk prices are below 75 percent of production costs. Another European farm union organization, Copa-Cogeca, says that milk prices have plummeted 30 percent in a year and that dairy producers will lose up to 14 billion euros before the end of the year if nothing is done.

The European Commission, however, said that the average milk price increased slightly in the last two months and that the price of butter and skimmed milk powder had risen 7 to 9 percent in three months.

The commission said it expected to spend up to 600 million euros supporting butter and skimmed milk prices this year and proposed to continue this policy throughout the winter.

In recent years the European Union has sought to reform its subsidy system and aims to phase out milk quotas, which limit production, by 2015…”

Read the whole report here.

Sales people are told at the onset of their careers to expect REJECTION. It’s just part of selling. Wrong! 

There is no profession on earth that would tolerate the level of rejection ’selling’ experiences without seriously examining its methods, motives, investments … without uncovering the critical defect and correcting it. It would be like NASA discovering an oxygen leak on Discovery and launching anyway. North American sellers could be accused of doing just that, for over half a century, were it not for one undeniable fact. Most sellers are not remotely aware they have a leak.

The leaks … the defects, are self-service and poor or no qualification skills. Since time began the quest for THE SALE, THE CLOSE, and MEETING QUOTA has been all-encompassing. At the furthest end of the selling axis the motivation has been greed, at the other end … ignorance. Almost a year ago to the day an exasperated business woman said this about selling. “In business I need a partner, an ally … I don’t need another salesman.” In that quote lies the road to redemption for salespeople and, as importantly, for those who employ them. But what needs to change?

Post secondary education for one. In a world that employs tens of thousands of sales people not one of these sales people has a degree in ’selling’. There are no degrees in ’selling’. There is no curriculum, no exam, no standard. There are no rules.

Industry needs to change, too. From banks to brothels salespeople are pushed out on to the streets and ordered to meet quota, or else !!!. What the presidents and madams have failed to realize is that, as surely as we no longer need to put film in cameras to take pictures, our salespeople no longer need to be mercenaries to sell our products and services. In fact the selling profession pushes more business away than it attracts. The reason is that North Americans are fed up with being sold to. We are fed up with the traditional salesperson.

For those of you sensing a huge opportunity here, you are absolutely on the right track. However, there is one more thing we all need to understand and do before deploying our new and improved salespeople into the field to put our competitors out of business. It’s called ’support’. For those readers not willing to wait for the next installment of this article I invite you to call Tangent Strategies locally at 947-2299 or toll-free 1-877-446-3383. We love proactive companies and salespeople wherever you may be in North America. We’re ready to be in your corner.

As quotas em dívida são um dos maiores problemas dos condomínios.
Se pensa que a razão principal deste incumprimento se deve à falta de liquidez dos condóminos, desengane-se.

Tem-se constatado que a maior causa do não pagamento das quotas ao condomínio é o facto de os condóminos utilizarem este incumprimento como “vingança” por mal entendidos, desacordos, protestos referentes a inconformidades ou ilegalidades, mau uso de partes e equipamentos comuns por parte de condóminos, mau estar provocado por alguns vizinhos, inércia do administrador na resolução de problemas, ou simplesmente demonstração do “mau feitio”.

Pois bem, o não pagamento das quotas atempado como resposta a estas questões é como querer apagar um fogo com gasolina, na medida em que só vai as vai agravar.

Desde que o orçamento anual do condomínio tenha sida legalmente aprovado, não há nenhum motivo que fundamente o não pagamento da quota. Tal atitude é um tiro no próprio pé, já que as acções judiciais para cobrança de quotas em divida estão cada vez mais facilitadas e céleres.
Quem dá importância aos protestos, reclamações ou reivindicações de um condómino que não paga as quotas? A resposta que se ouvirá é… certamente a que está a pensar.

O assunto merece reflexão principalmente para que os incumpridores não se tornem naquilo que não querem que os seus vizinhos sejam.
Se pretende fazer prevalecer a sua ideia ou vontade, então faça-o pelo bom exemplo e pela importância positiva que tem no condomínio.
Afinal, no condomínio todos têm um interesse comum: viver em harmonia e segurança.

Viver bem onde se mora depende da disposição de cada condómino para ser assertivo, participativo, e cumpridor dos seus deveres.

Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the recently seated 17th president of Dartmouth College, was interviewed in the most current edition of that college’s Alumni Magazine. Though his comments are specific to that school, the gist of his message is applicable to any organization in its common sense, simplicity, and importance. Some excerpts, below:

Kim is a sharp critic of prevailing approaches to diversity at colleges and universities because they overlook the fundamental role of cultural identity in how people see the world and apply their intellect and creativity. He cites, among other examples, the largely racially based method of measuring and describing population mix — black, white, Asian, Hispanic — and the prevalence of “political correctness” which, according to Kim, stifles honest engagement and hides issues that ought to be aired.

“The way we deal with diversity on American campuses is so superficial that it is dangerous,” Kim says. “The worst of it is that smart young people can see through the superficiality and conclude that diversity is not important or that the shallow, stylized way we deal with cultural competence is sufficient. It is not. In the end we have to understand each other’s humanity.”

“The BBC carried a news item today on a dispute in Brazil about quotas set by the government under which persons from some ethnic backgrounds and from disadvantaged areas have protected access to higher education. Brazil, like a number of Latin American countries, has ethnic groups that are seriously under-represented in universities, and therefore in the higher paid professions that require university qualifications. To improve this situation, quotas have been set aside for such groups, but this has now been challenged in the courts …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 7 September]

Quota for women in panchayats to be raised to 50%, Times News Network, Times of India, August 28, 2009.

The association of German industry BDI has warned that:

“Global, European and national restrictions to commodities are threatening the growth of German industry, which is vital to overcoming the current crisis.”

“We are steering towards a raw materials gap,” said Ulrich Grillo, chairman of the BDI commodities group and chief executive of German zinc producer Grillo-Werke.

BDI complains that China alone has restricted trade with raw materials and semi-finished products with some 373 export duties.

This complaint comes when there’s news about a draft report by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The report has called for a total ban on foreign shipments of some rare metals, while introducing export quotas for other rare elements far bellow global needs.

An interesting article on the F’d up state of sugar in this country. Excerpt:

Even though it amounts to only 1 percent of agricultural production, U.S. sugar is the single most heavily protected agricultural commodity. No matter what the price on the world market, U.S. sugar producers and processors get paid a high price.  Historically, this price has been two to three times higher than world market prices. Although this costs American consumers $2 billion to $3 billion a year in higher sugar prices, nobody much notices because it “only” amounts to about $10 per year per person over and above what you would pay for sugar anyway.

Continuando con el tema de ayer, vamos a activar las “journaled quotas” que parece que son algo más modernas, que las “quotas” a secas. Deshabilitamos las cuotas, borramos los ficheros de cuota en el filesystem y empezamos de nuevo.

[root@mdv1 ~]# quotaoff –a
[root@mdv1 ~]# cd /mnt/quotas/
[root@mdv1 quotas]# rm -rf quota.*
[root@mdv1 quotas]#

1- Habilitar las journaled quotas en fstab para el nuevo disco

# Entrada para el nuevo disco:
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/quotas ext3  \
relatime,usrjquota=aquota.user,grpjquota=aquota.group,jqfmt=vfsv0 1 2

2- Crear los ficheros de bbdd:

[root@mdv1 mnt]# touch quotas/aquota.user quotas/aquota.group
[root@mdv1 mnt]# chmod 600 quotas/aquota.*

3-Remontar el filesystem:

[root@mdv1 mnt]# mount -o remount /mnt/quotas

4-Activar las cuotas

[root@mdv1 mnt]# quotacheck -avugm
quotacheck: Scanning /dev/sdb1 [/mnt/quotas] done
quotacheck: Checked 3 directories and 4 files
[root@mdv1 mnt]# quotaon -avug
/dev/sdb1 [/mnt/quotas]: group quotas turned on
/dev/sdb1 [/mnt/quotas]: user quotas turned on

Con el comando edquouta –u avr12s se  nos abre nuestro editor preferido (al estilo de “crontab –e”)  mostrándonos algo parecido a esto:

Disk quotas for user avr12s (uid 500):
Filesystem                   blocks       soft       hard     inodes     soft     hard
  /dev/sdb1                      5016       8000      10000          2        0        0

Donde hemos modificado el limite hard a 10000 (10 Mb) y el limite soft a 8 Mb, el sistema avisará cuando tengamos un uso del filesystem mayor de 8Mb y de ninguna manera nos dejara escribir más de 10. Vamos a probarlo:
Con dd creamos un fichero de algo más de 4Mb con lo que sumado al anterior nos avisa que nos estamos pasando.

[avr12s@mdv1 avr12s]$ dd if=/dev/zero of=archivo2.txt bs=1024 count=4000
sdb1: warning, user block quota exceeded.
4000+0 records in
4000+0 records out
4096000 bytes (4,1 MB) copied, 0,065512 s, 62,5 MB/s
[avr12s@mdv1 avr12s]$ ll
total 8008
-rw-rw-r– 1 avr12s avr12s 4096000 2009-08-20 20:41 archivo2.txt
-rw-rw-r– 1 avr12s avr12s 4096000 2009-08-20 20:41 archivo.txt
[avr12s@mdv1 avr12s]$

 Ahora intentaremos pasar los 10Mb:

[avr12s@mdv1 avr12s]$ dd if=/dev/zero of=archivo3.txt bs=1024 count=4000
sdb1: write failed, user block limit reached.
dd: escribiendo «archivo3.txt»: Se ha excedido la cuota de disco
1985+0 records in
1984+0 records out
2031616 bytes (2,0 MB) copied, 0,0320368 s, 63,4 MB/s

¡Sólo nos ha dejado crear archivo3.txt con 2Mb!  Esto funciona.
Con el comando repquota  generamos un informe de la situación en nuestro sistema:

[root@mdv1 quotas]# repquota -va
*** Report for user quotas on device /dev/sdb1
Block grace time: 7days; Inode grace time: 7days
                        Block limits                File limits
User            used    soft    hard  grace    used  soft  hard  grace
———————————————————————-
root      –   70212       0       0              4     0     0
avr12s    +-   10000    8000   10000  6days       4     0     0
avera     –    6016       0       0              2     0     0
bersuit   –    3008       0       0              2     0     0

 Statistics:
Total blocks: 7
Data blocks: 1
Entries: 4
Used average: 4,000000

Podemos ver también que al usuario avr12 le quedan 6 días de gracia, si pasados 6 dias el usuario no ha liberado espacio el limite “soft” se convierte en “hard” hasta que se eliminen los ficheros suficientes para resolver el exceso de cuota.
Imaginemos que tenemos 1000 usuarios a los que establecer la cuota, sería tedioso editar las cuotas de usuario uno a uno para habilitarlas. Podemos usar una plantilla de usuario y clonarla a todos los demás así:
Elegimos al usuario  avr12s como plantilla , suponemos que se empiezan a asignar uids a los usuarios por encima de 500.

[root@mdv1 quotas]# edquota -p avr12s `awk -F: ‘$3 >499 {print $1}’ /etc/passwd`
[root@mdv1 quotas]# repquota -av
*** Report for user quotas on device /dev/sdb1
Block grace time: 7days; Inode grace time: 7days
                        Block limits                File limits
User            used    soft    hard  grace    used  soft  hard  grace
———————————————————————-
root      –   70212       0       0              4     0     0
nobody    –       0    8000   10000              0     0     0
avr12s    +-   10000    8000   10000  7days       4     0     0
avera     –    6016    8000   10000              2     0     0
bersuit   –    3008    8000   10000              2     0     0
Statistics:
Total blocks: 8
Data blocks: 1
Entries: 5
Used average: 5,000000

¡Moskis!  Se nos ha colado el usuario nobody que en mandriva tiene el 65536 como uid, por lo demás ha funcinado.

1- El primer paso después del archiconocido urpmi quota , será habilitarlas, , definiendo las opcciones en /etc/fstab. Editamos el archivo y añadimos :

# Entrada para el nuevo disco:
/dev/sdb1  /mnt/quotas   ext3    relatime,usrquota,grpquota    1  2

2-Crear los ficheros quouta.user y quota.group en la raiz del filesystem /mnt/quota:

[root@mdv1 ~]# touch quota.user quota.group
[root@mdv1 ~]# chmod 600 quota.user  quota.group

Estos dos ficheros contendran las bases de datos de las cuotas de usuario y grupo. Los ficheros de cuota son binarios, cada filesystem con cuotas utilizará sus propias bbdd.

3- Ejecutamos quotacheck para inicializar las bbdd
[root@mdv1 quotas]# quotacheck -avug
quotacheck: Your kernel probably supports journaled quota but you are not using it. Consider switching to journaled quota to avoid running quotacheck after an unclean shutdown. (1)

4. Ejecutamos quotaon para habilitar las cuotas:
[root@mdv1 quotas]# quotaon -av
/dev/sdb1 [/mnt/quotas]: group quotas turned on
/dev/sdb1 [/mnt/quotas]: user quotas turned on
[root@mdv1 quotas]#

5-Verificar que las quotas se arrancan en el inicio del sistema dando un vistazo a /etc/rc.sysinit

Ya estamos listos para trabajar con quotas, nos quedan unas cuantas dudas como (1) activar las journaled quotas, ( que tienen buena pinta) , repquota ( para genera informes) y el uso de edquota para asignar cuotas a usuarios y grupos, también el tema de la actualización de las bbdd de quotas con quotacheck. Asi que no se vayan todavía aún hay más…

More concerns, suspicions about Alberta Hospital cuts  CBC.ca - Mental-health advocates and people who use Edmonton’s Alberta Hospital and continued to voice concerns Wednesday about where patients will turn once the psychiatric facility starts closing acute care beds.