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Unions
简体
Unions
工会

Learn the Present Perfect Tense

Date: Jun 25 2012

Themes: News, Work

Grammar: Present Perfect Tense

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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We all need somebody else to stand up for us sometimes. When we’re kids, it’s our parents who protect us and make sure others treat us fairly. As adults, we have friends and family members who help us in different ways. And at work, many people belong to a union that’s there to stand up for their rights as workers.

Unions help fight for things like higher pay, health insurance, paid vacations and better working conditions. Some people dislike unions because they think they have too much power. But many workers rely on a union to stand up for them. Hear Amy and Marni discuss unions.

有时候我们需要有人替我们出面。当我们是孩子时,父母保护我们,保证其他人公平对待我们。成年后,我们有朋友和家庭成员以各种方式帮助我们。在工作上,很多人属于工会组织,可以保证作为员工的权利。
工会帮助工人争取提高工资、健康福利、带薪休假和更好的工作条件。一些人不喜欢工会,因为他们认为他们权利太大。但是很多员工选择工会作为自己的后盾。听听艾米和玛尼讨论工会

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amy

Amy

Marni

Marni

Amy:  I’ve always supported unions just kind of generally, in principle. But I belong to a union, and I actually just benefited in a real way from belonging to a union.

Marni:  I agree, actually, because I too am a member of a union, teacher’s union, and they’re really there to support workers’ rights and to support us as individuals. But you know, there’s been such a backlash recently against unions in this country. And, you know, with both of us being members of a union, I think we’re both on the defensive, because we know how much it benefits us. But I think people think unions have too much power.

Amy:  It does seem like people have this idea that unions are this big, dark, powerful force. But that seems so crazy to me when unions were started to help people who had no power, you know? Like, they were…the whole point of unions is to kind of fight back against the bosses and the people who naturally have the power in a working situation. And so, it seems really weird that now the tables have turned and we think the unions are the villains.

Marni:  Right.

 

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Discussion

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Amy and Marni both belong to unions. They both say that they have benefited from belonging to a union. Unions help workers get things like health insurance and higher pay.

On the other hand, some people dislike unions. They think unions have too much power. People often get annoyed when unions go on strike. Strikes are one tool that unions use to get more rights and benefits for workers.

Amy doesn’t think unions have too much power. She says their purpose is to stand up for people who don’t have much power at all. She and Marni agree that unions shouldn’t be seen as villains.

Do you have unions in your country? Do you think the unions are a good or bad thing?

 

Comments

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YilingHe

YilingHe

China

Well,in my country,there is so such thing as a union.So the workers who are powerless can never get their voice heard,thus can not  safeguard their legal rights.It’s really unfair for those low-paid staff.So for me the unions are no doubt a good thing. 

02:24 AM Jun 25 2012 |

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I don’t think that unions are the villains, they’re just an important part of a society, it’s a way of keeping the scales balanced and retaining the rights of those whose rights are exposed to be raped. 


I think unions are everywhere in every aspect and this is what should be .. people in different staffs must be protected from greed, unjust bosses. They must have who defend their rights and insure a fair life for them.


Isn’t there a union for students?? :D 

12:26 AM Jun 25 2012 |

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