GreekIslandGirl wrote:Get Real! wrote:GreekIslandGirl wrote:Sorry, Cap but the fact they mass produce masses of useless material goods means nothing to me. They don't even make pasta as tasty as the Greeks. Their olive oil is like cooking oil. Their cheeses are nothing compared to the best of ours.
They've just monopolised the western countries into thinking they are cool "southern Mediterranean" types and all they've done for thousands of years is modify Greek things.They are not innovators. They are the European equivalent of the Japanese. They copy and promote.
Suprficial tat!
And their country's landscape cannot hold a candle to Greece. Their roads are pox-marked remnants from the second world war - oh yeah - and let's not forget their stupid decisions during THAT time!
An embarrassment - shame they have a few of our Greek genes to boast their way out of savagery.
Deluded ++
And the elite are turning their backs on the old hacks ...But while Italy grew by making scooters, cars and handbags,the mafias carved out their own routes to wealth: tobacco smuggling, construction, kidnapping and narcotics.
By the 1980s, Southern Italy was on the edge of becoming a narco-state.The scene was set for a titanic struggle against mafiosi who could no longer tolerate any obstacle to their ambitions.
Italy today still lives in the aftermath of that season of savagery. The world of the mafias has changed for good. The once great camorra clans have fragmented into feuding factions. The mighty Cosa Nostra is a shell of its former self.
But the mafias are far from dead. The long shadow of mafia history still hangs over a nation wracked by debt, political paralysis, and corruption.
Bill Emmott, The Times
handbags and scooters.
A really good example is Cyprus Airways.
You have an obstructionist and hostile Union that is uncooperative with Cyprus Airways senior management in its effort to restructure and hopefully save the airline from bankruptcy. This involved redundancies, lay offs, staff pay cuts and other efficiency measures which the union opposes. The union claims that the airline has been mismanaged as if to imply they are justified in their lack of cooperation which they are not. This does not represent the best interests of the workforce either as there is increased chance of insolvency. The union should be in fact cooperating with the airline in order to help them save the company and at least some of the jobs but as it stands it is almost certain that the company will go under in early January and all staff will be out of work.
Anywhere else the union will be in very close collaboration with the effected airline. The union should have a vested interest in the survival of the company. Unfortunately, we politicize everything. This is what happens in Greece and Cyprus.
In fact, in other countries, relations between unions and airlines are actually quite stellar and cooperative. Yes the unions are in there representing their members collectively, but the interaction in the most part is not hostile. The unions generally have no interest in harming the airline. They all bat for the same team.
January might be a terrible month for Cyprus. The loss of Cyprus Airways will be a disaster in many ways. Hopefully, another airline will take its place.
