Union Strike One

#56
mirchu-bahu tum bhi kya khoj ke nikalte ho, zhakas!

Re: # 42

Aha_Snarl

Check out this link.Pics showing all that is good and bad about Mumbai.Isn`t one of the purposes of this site to foster better understanding of one another`s countries?.So, why belittle me for doing what i can on my side?.One photo shows an Israeli tourist reading an `India` guide in yiddish and in the background an indian flag stuck in a railing.Did he put it there?.He`s more patriotic than you are, then...............

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=225105

Re: # 42

I will crow and i will gloat.`Cause, despite people like you, India has achieved a level of sustenance that has confounded even its` best proponents.YES, we do have a long ways to go.But , i ask you, wouldn`t you put on you best clothes when you have visitors over to your house?.I do not for one moment try to hide all that is ``ugly`` or undeveloped.Everything is there for all to see.I put my best foot forward, hoping that seeing what we have achieved , others will appreciate what we have done and help us alleviate all or almost all of our problems or even emulate what is good.I as a citizen of another country gave up a career in a major multinational to live in India and partake of everything that is good and bad about us and contribute my little bit towards the development of my native region and all of India as a consequence, i hope!!!.I do plan to return back to the land of my birth , but i atleast will have the satisfaction that i gave something to India.And that is my personal prerogative.

New Delhi has done a bang-up job in developing the metro system, under budget and in record time and that is a note-worthy achievement for the local govt. there and for the commuters.Why not spread the good word and invite people to look at pictures of it?.The subway is real , is functioning and at nominal costs that even the poorest can afford.We can all learn from each other and just as i do take your criticism in the right spirit, why can`t paks look at India`s achievements in the right spirit and acknowledge them?.They`re having tremendous problems reconciling their military run state with the concept of a free market economy.They can`t have their cake and eat it.I offer our perspective.

AND, you are perverse.And, what makes you think you aren`t being monitored?..Big brother is everywhere.

business recorder has the best take on the saga of ptcl privatisation. private sector is the only thing besides the army that works in pak. quite an achievement in my opinion given the hurdles it has to overcome:

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=281698&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

PTCL: Bumpy ride to privatisation

...All through the nineties, various governments have worked towards the privatisation of PTCL. The process was started with turning the Telephone and Telegraph Department into a corporate entity (PTCL). Public offering of 12 percent shares of the company was made in two stages. Local offering fetched Rs 3 billion and international book running (through Jardine Flemings) amounted to just under $900 million.

...Since allegations of kick-backs were made on the sub-underwriting of the international offering (by ARY, Dubai) the Nawaz Sharif government focused more on getting Benazir Bhutto/Asif Zardari investigated than on privatising PTCL. After the 1999 military take-over, progress on PTCL`s privatisation slowed down due to the negative international fall-out.

...As soon as other entrants were given permission in the cellular field, they stole a march over it. During the last decade PTCL fixed lines grew from 3 to 5 million, while cell phone population rose to over 10 million. Out of 10 million mobile phones, PTCL`s Ufone has 2.2 million subscribers as against 6.5 million with Mobilink.

As a provider of internet services PTCL`s Paknet is also far behind the market leader, Cybernet. And, now that PTCL`s monopoly over fixed line telephony has come to an end and wireless loop services are freely available, PTCL`s hold on its main revenue earner over time will also be diluted. Unless the company can efficiently reorient itself to meet the challenge to become a first class service provider in the telecommunication field, it would continue to go downhill.

It is presently shackled with government rules and procedures in decision making. As a consequence, the company cannot undertake quick and timely decisions to meet the competitive challenge.

What baffles us is the fact that political parties - like PPP and PML (N) - when in power were in favour of privatising PTCL, but now they want to politically capitalise on opposing the sell-off. Those employed before 1996 continue to enjoy job security given to civil servants up to the retirement age. They constitute 70 percent of the work force.

The rest also have guaranteed jobs. And removals, if any, have to be under a generous package. It is a combined failure of our intelligence agencies, the management of PTCL and the Privatisation Commission not to have foreseen the stiff resistance mounted by the 14 unions of the employees. In the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA), due to court cases between competing unions, the task of holding a meaningful and constructive dialogue has become even more difficult for the government.

With the political opposition bent on encashing the controversy for its own benefit, the government has had to give much more in terms of job security and other pecuniary benefits which would entail a huge financial cost of Rs 3.8 billion or more.

This cost would be discounted in their valuation by the buyers, that is, it is to be ultimately borne by the tax payer. The unions` demand to have the final say in valuation of the company is just meaningless. There is a structured process, involving professional valuations, undertaking an exhaustive exercise spread over six to 10 months.

....For the last five years we have been advocating removal of the companies earmarked for privatisation from their respective ministries and entrusting the oversight to the Privatisation Commission. But the politicians as well as bureaucrats do not believe in giving up their power. First they blocked the denationalisation of taken-over units despite a commitment from General Zia-ul-Haq. A change in the mindset and firm policy principle that it is not the job of the government to be in business, is yet to take hold in this country even in the ruling party.

It is now indeed a defining moment for the Musharraf government. If the General means what he says regarding the good that will come out of privatisation, he must use everything at his command to remove all the obstacles.

The acid test lies in not only keeping Pakistan`s communication network operational but also in getting the parliamentary approval for amendments in laws, as may be committed to the buyers. So let us belt up for a bumpy ride ahead. The goal of handing over PTCL to a bidder on time has to be met, if we are to successfully privatise other government run business monopolies.

i stand corrected on engro being the largest fertilizer company in pak. i have been out of pak for over five years and i did not take into account, acquisition made by fauji fertilizer since i have been out. however the point i was trying to make still stands which is that a commercial army-linked entity does not have a monopoly in any sector it operates and that most of these companies are very efficient. also both fauji fertilizer (ff) and fauji fertilizer bin qasim (ffbq) are publically listed entities. fauji foundation owns 44% stake in ff and 17% stake ffbl while ff owns 45% stake in ffbc. in terms of operating efficiency of these entities, here are the views of an analyst at akd securities on ff:

`` ...Efficient plant and largest de-bottlenecking capacity! FFC has the most efficient plant in
the country with average gas consumption of about 27MBTU per tonne. The company has faced no major set backs in terms of urea production unlike some other players and has been running comfortably above its rated capacity for more than a decade now. With total rated capacity of about 1.9mn tonnes, FFC also has the potential to expand its urea capacity by 260k tonnes. This de-bottlenecking capacity, which is likely to come online in mid 2007, should help FFC in absorbing
excess demand...``

quote is from a report titled ``Fertilizer Sector - Overweight Riding on strong pricing power!``. report is available on bloomberg.

I am surprised to see the author`s support of the strike by the PTCL employees. The question here is why are they agitating against privatisation? Clearly the corrupt and inefficient employees of PTCL fear that it would be difficult for them to survive in an organisation run on the basis of customer service and efficiency rather than one whereindifference towards customers and leakage of resources abounds.

Apparently, the labor unions have settled with the govt./management..........

``Five more labour unions accepted the PTCL incentive package and withdrew their reservations about the company’s privatisation...............The new agreement assured complete job security to contractual employees for over two years, with earned leave encashment raised from 140 days to 150 besides 35 per cent increase in their salaries instead of 30 per cent announced earlier.

The incentives package is now worth Rs 3 billion. The educational grant has been increased from 500 per cent to 550 per cent, which would be applicable from July 1.`` www.jang.com.pk

Aha_Snark #48: ``It`s possible that what`s galvanised them from their lackadaisical attitude earlier is the entry of the private sector into hitherto unprotected areas such as telecommunications and transportation. So have a mixed economy.``

The question is not of privitization. The question is actually of efficiency. If a govt. owned institution can operate efficiently, then there is nothing wrong with it. National Bank is govt. owned bank. Yet it is the highest performing and the largest bank in Pakistan, now.

The problem is that bloated organizations can never survive if they are opened up to competition, in a, ``mixed`` economy. How will an airline that has twice as many employees as it should, yet provides half the customer serivice that it should survive against an equally large private airline, that has exactly the right number of employees? It is simple economics.

If another airline of 50 aircraft opened up in Pakistan, PIA would go under. Similarly, any overstaffed telco will go under if it is opened up to competition. The only way for it to stay afloat is to downsize and increase its efficiency. In which case, it will be doing the same thing that privitization would do.

In addition, private companies will not enter a market that does not have a level playing field. And all the extra costs of the bloated govt. organizations are being passed onto the customer, or being paid for by the taxpayer. Money that could be used on other things.......

What happened in Argentina is not going to happen everywhere. What the govt. needs to be careful of is selling the assets of at the correct price, and in a manner where the overall job creation and economy of Pakistan grows, i.e. don`t hand off the gas companies to Exxon and let them take all the gas at throwaway prices..........

It is the govt`s. job to provide health care and education to its citizens, through the taxpayers` money. It is not the govts. job to give the taxpayers money away to overstaffed companies.............

While I don`t deny the need for core services to be provided to the poor..but the govt has no job in what is purely sectors where the private sector can easily function..

Omair: In addition to the banks you mentioned, the Government also owns Bank fo Khyber, Punjab, Bolan Bank, Housing Building Finance Corporation, PICIC, IDBP, Agriculture Bank..also the government not selling a majority stake to the strategic investor..but it sellng a management stake..there is a distinct difference.

At the same time I do not support dirty tricks in breaking up Unions.

Re: # 44
re: JawadJee:

I believe institutions have a social function. The function of Indian Railways, inefficient, corrupt and creaking though it might be, is to provide affordable transportation for 5 billion people a year. Even if it loses money on them. The function of a water service is to provide potable water to every Indian, regardless of his or her capacity to pay market price for it. The function of a healthcare system is to not weigh a patient`s wallet before deciding whether to provide long term care. Or profit from the incident.

And besides all these patent functions, the latent function, of providing support and employment for millions is, in my opinion, critical.

And even apart from these critical functions of transportation, water and health, if a publicly owned corporation is profitable or even breaking even, I strongly oppose Government disinvestment in it, even if it will fetch millions. Every effort must be made to revive and restructure public corporations before selling them off.

Look at Bolivia [1] for an example of breakneck capitalism. Or Argentina [2].

And as for customer service / efficiency, I opened a bank account just a week ago at a leading Indian private bank and in the good old State Bank of India. SBI told me clearly, up front, what documents I would need while the ``account executive`` at the private bank left me with the impression that were I to show up with a used bus ticket, I would have a full fledged bank account.

They were extra courteous indeed and very very anxious that I open the bank account then and there. Once opened, however, my ``account executive`` lost interest and it took ages for the bank to put in place rudimentary standing instructions.

Oh, and as for efficiency,

The completely unglamorous Mr. Ghai at the SBI was neutral, with none of the lickspittle cravenness (unsupported by real world competence) that masquerades for customer service in so many private sector dealings in India. He told me what I needed. Attested copy of passport. Introduction form. two photographs. He scrutinised them carefully (unlike the private sector dude). In 90 minutes, I had opened a savings bank AND a PPF acount, nominated next of kin for both of them, gotten my passbook, applied for my debit card and Internet Banking facility, Issued standing instructions to directly debit my account periodically and was out of there.

In my experience, the state will be much more khadoos but they get the job done. It`s possible that what`s galvanised them from their lackadaisical attitude earlier is the entry of the private sector into hitherto unprotected areas such as telecommunications and transportation. So have a mixed economy. There`s no reason to treat liberalisation as an economic imperative or an inevitability.

Cuba? As in the Human Development Index ? It`s Gini Coefficient ?

I`d rather have a country such as the scandinavian ones with their ``inefficent`` safety nets rather than a robber baron game preserve.

To recense the Aerosmith song,

``Tax the rich / There`s only one thing that they`re good for``
``Tax the rich / Take one slab now and come back for more``

(that`s a joke. but only just)

Cheers,

A_S

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1504058,00.html
[2] http://americas.irc-online.org/articles/2004/0410argentdebt.html

The primary job of every govt., specifically in poor countries, is to reduce poverty. Everything else comes a very distant second. This includes things like establishing religion or establishing secularism. Running marathons or stopping marathons etc……In case of poor countries, even elections are secondary, if they cannot reduce poverty….…In the end, countries only come out of the third-world by getting poverty to very low figures.

Pakistan did a very good job of economic growth till the early 70s. It went from nowhere in South Asia, in 1947, to being the country with the most potential within 20 years of its formation. That momentum even carried it through two more decades. By 1990, Pakistan had a historically low poverty rate of 18% or so. One more good decade at 6% and we would have been in single digits.

However, things went haywire in the lost decade of the 90s. And by 2000, the poverty rate was at 30% and getting higher at phenomenal rates. For the past 15 years, every year more people have been added below the poverty line. Finally, for the first time in 15 years, this year, Pakistan has again started lowering its poverty figures, i.e. it has finally turned the corner. Last year, there were 45 million people in Pakistan below the poverty line. This year, due to consistently high economic growth rates, there has been a ten percent reduction, i.e. 5 million people have been taken out of poverty!!

Another ten years of this, and we will be in single digit poverty figures…………What can be more important than that?

How is poverty reduced? It is reduced by bringing tens of millions of people above the poverty line. That can only be done by growing the economy, as a whole, which creates genuine jobs. It is not reduced by creating fake jobs in gigantic publicly owned monopolies, and employing people there. In such a scenario, just to give 10,000 people a free ride, the country ends up adding a far larger group below the poverty line………..

Re: # 37
re: cayenne:

just read interact #42 again.

Oh, and I`m still waiting for the call from the Home Ministry or ``Indian Intelligence``. Maybe you should call them again. And if they hang up on you, don`t give up. Keep trying until they ask for your name and address. That`s how they distinguish the serious, patriotic Indians from the pinko JNU types.

cheers,

A_S