First Generations

In her book First Generations, Carol Berkin basically aims to show the readers the power of women which can be traced through our history. Differentiating itself from traditional historical texts, studies, and researches, the book does not omit the valid experiences of women during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It wants to show that women of all races -European, Indian, and African- were critical components of 17th- and 18th-century American history.As such, the author tried to examine the various cultures, ideologies, belief and political systems that were present during those early times in relation to the roles and norms that enveloped women. With this goal at hand, she tried to find evidences and narrative accounts of the lives of ordinary women. She tried to figure out how these ordinary lives were governed, affected, and altered by the varying social expectations about women.Through all of this, Berkin tries to emphasize that women were active partakers in the makin g of history and the alteration of social norms, values, and systems even at a time when they were denied of equal rights. The book’s efficacy in providing deeper knowledge of American Culture To identify the efficacy of a classified historical narrative and exploration, the bases that will be used are the conciseness of the narrative, and its accuracy.Basically, the book presented a complete and concise narrative since it presented a multicultural setting as it tackles the experiences of women from various cultural and racial backgrounds. It involves the analyses of women of European, Indian, and African originalities. However, the book does not stop at carefully delineating women through their race and culture. Instead, Berkin moves a step higher in careful analysis and examination as she explores not only the popular and prominent women from the various cultural originalities.She presents a book which explores the lives of women through the varied roles that they perform- as wives, as daughters, as mothers, and as social participants- in relation to their occupation and social class. A particular example is Berkin’s citation of Margaret Hardenbroeck, a trader. Berkin was able to track down the life of Hardenbroeck, and illustrate how her colonial life as a businesswoman was altered by English colonization of Netherlands. In the book, Hardenbroeck’s economic problems, legal rights, and socially-related issues were examined in relation to what her husband have experienced.By doing so, Berkin was able to demonstrate the differences among the social expectations and pressures between a man and a woman. Another identity that Berkin also examined in the book was Eliza Lucas Pinckney. Unlike Hardenbroeck, Pickney was not very exposed to matters of businesses, colonization, and governmental restrictions at first. Instead, she was constantly struggling to fulfill her domestic responsibilities that were traditionally assigned to women. By these, it means that Pinckney was more concerned and burdened with her roles as a wife, a mother, and a daughter.However, economic circumstances prompted her to adopt expertise in entrepreneurship as she later became the proprietor of her father’s and late husband’s plantations. Berkjin narrates that overtime, Pinckney then developed â€Å"a consciousness of self and a confidence in reason† which she garnered from her education. Through these two, Berkin made a valid conclusion when she pointed out that social class altered the supposed to be gender-specific roles of colonial American society.In the case of accuracy, it can be observed that Berkin lacked primary materials. As such, she tried to overcome the scarcity of primary sources through thorough research and cross-checking with secondary sources. She even acknowledges the said issue when she stated that though â€Å"studies of New England marriage patterns based on diaries and letters and studies of Chesapeake m arriage patterns drawn from demographic data are equally valid,† such cannot be used for a carefully derived cross-culture comparison.However, it seems that her lapse in conclusive data should not be regarded as an important component in her descriptive analysis of the daily lives of women from various geographic regions. It appears that the careful analysis of women of varied social class, racial background, and geographic location during those times is accurate enough to guarantee that the narrative is a well-researched work fit for collections on women studies.As such, the book gave its readers a deeper knowledge of American culture since it was able to touch on a rarely tackled historical subject and component- women. Moreover, the historical exploration that it presented was rather seemingly complete narrative of women history as Berkin explored marriage, motherhood, social interaction, labor, and beliefs. To add to that, the exploration was done in a compare and contrast manner between the social experiences and pressures faced by men and women.Thus, it was clear why women garnered different roles and patterns of empowerment and development from men. Overall, the book demonstrated that women were important factors in history creation and societal alteration. REFERENCES Berkin, Carol (1997). First Generations: Women in Colonial America. First Generations by Carol Berkin. Retrieved January 31, 2008 from www. powells. com/cgi-bin/biblio? inkey=62-9780809016068-0 First Generations by Carol Berkin. Retrieved January 31, 2008 from http://search. barnesandnoble. com/booksearch/isbnInquiry. asp? z=y&endeca=1&isbn=0809016060&itm=2#TABS

How to Conjugate Protéger (to Protect) in French

How to Conjugate Protà ©ger (to Protect) in French You will use the French verb  protà ©ger  when you want to say to protect. A verb conjugation is required if you want to use it for the past tense protected or the future tense will protect. This word has a couple tricks to it, but a lesson in its simplest conjugations will explain everything you need to know. The Basic Conjugations of  Protà ©ger Protà ©ger is both a stem-changing  and  spelling change verb. While that may seem scary at first, both issues have a purpose and are relatively easy to handle. The stem change occurs with the accented  Ãƒ ©Ã‚  in  protà ©ger. You will notice that in some forms- the present tense, in particular- the accent changes to an  Ãƒ ¨.  You will also notice that the future tense gives you the option between the stem changes.  Pay attention to this while studying so you can spell it correctly when needed.   The stem change pops up in the regular -er  conjugations where the ending begins with an  a  or  o.  For these, the  e  is retained to ensure the  g  has a soft pronunciation as it does in gel. Without the  e, the vowels would make it a hard sound as in gold. The indicative mood and the basic present, future, and imperfect past tenses are covered in this first chart. These should be your top priority to memorize because youll use them most often. All you need to do is pair the subject pronoun with the corresponding tense to learn which endings to use. For example, je protà ©ge means I am protecting and nous protà ©gions means we protected. Present Future Imperfect je protà ¨ge protà ©geraiprotà ¨gerai protà ©geais tu protà ¨ges protà ©gerasprotà ¨geras protà ©geais il protà ¨ge protà ©geraprotà ¨gera protà ©geait nous protà ©geons protà ©geronsprotà ¨gerons protà ©gions vous protà ©gez protà ©gerezprotà ¨gerez protà ©giez ils protà ¨gent protà ©gerontprotà ¨geront protà ©geaient The Present Participle of  Protà ©ger The spelling change is also required in the  present participle  of  protà ©ger because of the -ant  ending. The result is the word  protà ©geant. Protà ©ger  in the Compound Past Tense Another way to express the past tense in French is with the  passà © composà ©. This requires both the  past participle  protà ©gà ©Ã‚  and the present tense conjugate of the auxiliary verb  avoir. For example, I protected is  jai protà ©ge  and we protected is  nous avons protà ©gà ©. More Simple Conjugations of  Protà ©ger Once again, youll find some spelling and stem changes in the following conjugations. Also, the conditional- used for if...then situations- offers the option between the accented es. However, if you pay careful attention to those things, these forms of  protà ©ger  can be quite useful. The subjunctive, for instance, allows you to call the act of protecting into question. When reading or writing French, youll likely encounter  the passà © simple  or  the imperfect subjunctive  because these are literary tenses. Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je protà ¨ge protà ©geraisprotà ¨gerais protà ©geai protà ©geasse tu protà ¨ges protà ©geraisprotà ¨gerais protà ©geas protà ©geasses il protà ¨ge protà ©geraitprotà ¨gerait protà ©gea protà ©geà ¢t nous protà ©gions protà ©gerionsprotà ¨gerions protà ©geà ¢mes protà ©geassions vous protà ©giez protà ©geriezprotà ¨geriez protà ©geà ¢tes protà ©geassiez ils protà ¨gent protà ©geraientprotà ¨geraient protà ©gà ¨rent protà ©geassent The French imperative  may be useful for a verb like  protà ©ger. Its used for short and assertive statements, and when you use it, theres no need to include the subject pronoun.   Imperative (tu) protà ¨ge (nous) protà ©geons (vous) protà ©gez

Die vs. Dye

Die vs. Dye Die vs. Dye Die vs. Dye By Maeve Maddox Although referred to as a â€Å"hoax,† a recent false report of the death of a beloved celebrity was the result more of ignorance than of malice. The rumor may have stemmed from this headline above a story posted in September in the Empire News: Actress Betty White, 92, Dyes Peacefully In Her Los Angeles Home A pun that the headline writer must have thought was extremely clever is in fact an example of extreme bad taste. The story was about the fact that Betty White dyes her hair in the privacy of her home: â€Å"Betty is a solitary kind of person,† said Witjas [White’s agent]. â€Å"She likes to relax in her home with her animals, and she rarely likes to discuss the fact, at least in public, that she is actually a brunette. She has been dyeing her own hair in her home for decades. Betty  has often told me she feels it is relaxing and soothing to dye her own hair, peacefully in her home, where she can laugh and enjoy time with her animals. She’s said on more than one occasion that as a blonde, she has had ‘more fun’ in her roles, and in life.† Irresponsibility on the part of the publication, plus the weak spelling skills of some readers, produced the distressing rumor. The word die functions as both noun and verb. As a noun, it has more than one meaning: die (noun): a small cube of ivory, bone, or other material, having its faces marked with spots numbering from one to six. (The plural of the game piece is dice.) die (noun): an engraved stamp used for impressing a design or figure upon some softer material, as in coining money, striking a medal, embossing paper, etc. As a verb, die means, â€Å"to cease to live.† Its principal parts are: die, died, (have) died, dying. The word dye also functions as both noun and verb: dye (noun): color used to stain a substance. dye (verb): to impart a color to something (fabric, hair, etc.) The principal parts are: dye, dyed, (have) dyed, dyeing. The spelling distinction between dye and die is fairly recent. Dr. Johnson (1709-1784) spells both words die in his dictionary. Joseph Addison (1672-1719) spelled both words dye. The modern spelling distinction clearly serves a valuable purpose. As for punning headlines, they may be fun to write, but they can have unintended consequences. Related post: One Die, Two Dice Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Does [sic] Mean?35 Genres and Other Varieties of FictionMood vs. Tense

The social role of magazines is as uncertain as their commercial basis Essay

The social role of magazines is as uncertain as their commercial basis - Essay Example Over the years, there have been reports of increasing demands among customers regarding a certain extent of control and influence over their media experiences as the media and technology industries have compelled them to do so. At present, digital formats can enable readers to easily navigate and establish interactions with the magazine content. Publishers have increased their ability in retaining the design conformity of a typical print magazine and, at the same, integrate the dimension of interactivity which attracts readers and generates a more engaging and dynamic experience (Machin and Thornborrow, 2003). In addition, the engagement of advertisements can also be enhanced owing to this digital resolution. However, there is still an increasing concern as to how magazines can retain their readers, establish and sustain effective brands, and increase profitability. Therefore, a number of factors must be emphasized, including brand awareness as well as the engagement of customers and their intentions to purchase. This paper will then focus on how readers relate to the magazine as a brand and how this process can influence their recall of the brand along with their intentions of purchasing such publications. Opportunities from the use of the new media have been recognized; if publishing will strongly depend on effective content delivery, consequently, the conventional print format will experience considerable threat. Retail wastage along with excessive reliance on distribution through newsstands has been associated with such format in the United States and in a number of European countries (Al-Olayan and Karande, 2000). On the other hand, the new delivery of media content has offered publishers and companies various opportunities; for instance, it helps reduce waste similar to the advantages of subscriptions, and provides real time interactivity between the readers and content. Such immediate interaction with these readers often entails a considerable culture ch ange which brand owners and manufacturers should effectively carry out to retain their readers. Finally, online publishers increase their ability in become a search engine with which a magazine site can help direct their readers to the source of information which they are seeking, implying that their magazine fits the readers’ lifestyle. Owing to the fact the online market has continued to present increased choices, one of the most crucial actors for success when using the new media is brand image (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Many publishers have recognized that the branding concept is a solution to the threats of the new media. On the whole, the customers’ awareness of a certain product, also characterized as their ability to think back to it, has typically been viewed as a crucial factor that determines their choice of purchase. However, others have underestimated the advantages that branding can provide by overlooking the usage of new media or considering such as a non- profit platform, similar to the free supply of magazines during events. The fact that numerous publishers have been offering their magazine content for free through the Internet can bring about risks for these firms. As branding has been increasingly deemed as an important component for magazine publishers, this emphasizes the traditional role of these publications in the society, which is to bring together

Supply and Demand II Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Supply and Demand II - Assignment Example Draw this on your graph above. a. (Figure: Supply and Demand with Subsidy) Refer to the figure. Suppose a subsidy allows sellers to receive their product at the price of $8 with a quantity of 400 units. What is the dollar amount of the subsidy per unit of the good? 7. True, False, or Uncertain: A starving farmer accepting a loan from a moneylender at a 25% interest rate is an example of mutually beneficial exchange. Give a one-sentence explanation of your answer. b. If the elasticity of demand for spring break packages to Ibiza is -5, and if you notice that this year in Ibiza the quantity of packages demanded increased by 10%, then what happened to the price of Ibiza vacation packages? c. London real estate developers are building thousands of new student-friendly apartments close to the Strand campus. If you want to pay the lowest rent possible, should you hope that demand for apartments is elastic or inelastic? d. The town council degrees that thousands of apartments close to the Strand campus are uninhabitable and must be torn down next semester. If you want to pay the lowest rent possible, should you hope that demand for apartments is elastic or

The Experience After Death in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism Essay

The Experience After Death in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism - Essay Example The three religions are mostly practiced in the South Asian region of the world. With the advancement in science, people have started questioning the different beliefs in their respective religions. A detailed study of the three religions gives us convincing evidence of the existence of the after life, the nature of the soul and the journey towards its final destination and the concept of heaven and hell. In this paper I will study the concept of life after death in the light of the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Like most religions of the world Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism also believe in the experience of the life after death. Each of the three religions gives detailed accounts of the journey of the soul from the time of its departure from the physical body towards the final destination. According to Glin-pa and Evans Wentz (2000), in Buddhism the after death journey is covered by the soul in 49 days (pg. 104). During this period the soul passes through a number of stages which have been mentioned by the authors in â€Å"The Tibetan Book of the Dead (2000)†. After which the soul enters into another body and is ready for rebirth. Death is not a sad experience for the Buddhists. It is just the beginning of the process of rebirth. In Hinduism, like in Buddhism the experience of death is not a sad one. It is rather referred to as the changing of the clothes (pg. 15) or moving from one house to another (pg. 15) by Sri Swami Sivnanda (1997) in his book entitled â€Å"What becomes of the Soul after death†. The after life journey of a Hindu soul is completed in one year during which the soul passes through many stages. The greater the sins committed by the soul the harder become the journey (pg. 16). Peter Clark (1999, pg. 63) discusses the concept of life after death in his book entitled â€Å"An Introduction to an Ancient Faith†. According to him the Zoroastrian faith also supports

Training class Essay Example for Free

Training class Essay CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in this paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I have added quotes whenever I used more than three consecutive words from another writer. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course. Student’s Signature: ______________________________ Instructor’s Grade on Assignment: Instructor’s Comments: Justify the use of a needs assessment of your company’s proposed employee customer service training stressing five (5) ways in which such an assessment would expose any existing performance deficiencies. Customer demands and the increase in competition have caused many companies to focus on customer service and relations. Southwest Airlines uses different approach when managing their airlines services throughout 97 destinations and 41 states (La Tasha, 2013). The ability to provide great customer services has much to do with the success of many individuals and companies. In the case of Southwest, their brand is to offer a low fare to their customers and always taking them on time to their final destination. Customer service isn’t about giving the customer exactly what they want. It involves skills such as problem solving, empathy, interpersonal skills, communication, and leadership abilities. Employee performance can be improved in many ways. Training is one way to emphasize employee performance. Each customer interaction is a representation on the company. Southwest Airlines objective is to train executive teams, making sure the highly value customer satisfaction guarantee and wanted those executives who managed departments that directly filtered into the service quality. When conducting a needs assessment, there are three areas that must be considered: organizational needs, occupational needs, and individual needs. Organizational assessment evaluates the level of organizational performance. An assessment of this type will determine what skills, knowledge, and abilities a company needs. It determines what is required to alleviate the problems and weaknesses of the company. Occupational assessment examines the skills, knowledge, and abilities required for affected occupational groups. Occupational assessment identifies how and which occupational discrepancies or gaps exist. Individual assessment analyzes how well an individual employee is doing a job and determines the individuals capacity to do new or different work. Individual assessm ent provides information on which  employees need training and what kind. A needs assessment is a wise investment for the organization. It saves time, money and effort by working on the right problems. People skills are the foundation for good customer service. Southwest Airlines will identify the goals of the potential training program by doing an initial interview questions with all parties. These questions are just a few to begin laying the foundation for the needed training. When a company encounters some type of situations, training is required. Southwest Airlines, assessment moves into the organizational, person and task analysis phase, questions will be intended for specific key executives. To make sure if the training will support the company’s strategic direction and if the needed resources would be obtainable, the assessment team will look in the direction of strategic planning, training and business development executives.â€Å" When employees interact with customers they are representing the organization and each customer’s perce ption of the quality of that interaction can influence the customer’s opinion of the organization and its products or services† (Dugan, 2014). Person’s analysis phase will determined who will need the training and if the present knowledge base provides a foundation to obtain the new skills. With exceptional customer service being the primary goal of these airlines, the Customer Service Department and Customer Support service department know what practices are currently used and if new skills and training is necessary to improve customer satisfaction. Lastly, task analysis will identify what current job functions are performed and if a need to implement new practice is necessary. Determining the needs of employees within an organization, assisting managers and filling vacant positions are significant aspects of human resource management processes. Organizations must complete job analysis to identify the skills needed for each job. The job description explains the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to fill the various jobs as spelled out in job specifications. The main objective of a needs assessment is to answer common questions such as who, when, where and why. Conducting a need assessment protects the assets of an organization and it is also an opportunity to initiate the conversation for proper utilization of resources that have been set aside for training. All assessments gather the information needed to make the decision if training is needed with the use of specific techniques. The assessment will be  conducted with interviews, focus groups and supporting documentation to decide if training is needed. The outcome of this assessment needs to be accurate. Develop a customer service training implementation plan and determine the method of training. Southwest has developed the Simulations method where an extensive technology-based training program is used. Its university for people is accessible to all its employees for personal and professional development. The virtual university offers courses ranging from software training to customer service. Additional, the airlines careers development services provides the employees with counseling, assessment and development plans. Employee training programs are helpful to organizations of different sizes. Even small companies can improve customer service skills. Large organizations often need training programs specifically targeted to employee development and changing technologies. Offering training programs to employees helps the employee feel more engaged and committed to the organization. The implementing of an employee training program in the organization improves job morale and teaches new skills. There are several steps to follow in developing a training plan. Step 1. Analyze your organizational needs. Interview managers and supervisors and identify employee performance areas that need growth. Step 2. Present your detailed presentation plan to the committee or the companys leadership team a nd be prepared to answer questions. Summarize the benefits of each proposed program, anticipated costs and time requirements. Demonstrate the need for each program by preparing detailed analysis of problem areas and possible solutions. Step 3. Conclude your plan and determine the budget for the next fiscal year. Request funds needed for the implementation of the customer service training. It should be taking in consideration employee training budget, including materials, travel, speaker fees, computer access charges and food in the budgeted amount. Step. 4 Allocate the funds by department, per employee or per training program, recommends the American Society for Training and Development (Lynn, 2014). Consider the benefits expected from each training program and decide if the cost of the program will give the desired results. Step 5. List the training classes offer over the year. Divide the classes by type and employee attendance. Prepare a schedule and publish it in the companys intranet. If possible, allow employees to sign up electronically to save valuable personnel time. Step 6.  Look for potential trainers references and verify that his materials and presentation style fit the company needs. Arrange the program costs and fees and a list of any needed equipment. Ask an employee with expertise in the field to teach a class or utilize member of the companys human resources department. Set clear expectations of class content and have a feedback system in place. Strep7. Evaluate the success of the program immediately after the programs completion. Ask the participants to fill out a feedback of the training program. Analyze the comments to plan for further training. The simulation method used in this type of training is effective because it is planned and resourceful. Justify why you selected the training program that you did. The simulation method is a perfect program used by airlines. The method offers the trainees the opportunity to experience some characteristics of their job in a secure and restricted environment and build skills related to those aspects of the job. Southwest Airlines has established the Flight Simulation training method where the technicians are responsible for continuous maintenance and engineering support for the Flight Operations Training Center, also where all Southwest Airlines Pilots receive training, as well as support for Flight Attendant emergency door trainers. The group was named Southwests Heroes of the Heart winner for 2014, an annual tribute awarded to a behind the scenes workgroup whose dedication contributes to Southwests success. (Southwest, 2014). â€Å" Southwest continues to count on the incredible reliability of its Flight Simulation Technicians as the airline completes the integration of AirTran, trains classes of New Hire Pilots, and adds hundreds of Captains through 2015†.(Southwest, 2014) Propose two (2) ways to motivate an employee who has no interest in attending a training class. Motivating and keeping employees in the company, requires effective management practices and strong leadership skills. An adequate training and good operating system are vital in a company. Employees need proper support and training tools to performance the job. A performance-based compensation plan should be designed very carefully to ensure that employees are encouraged to help build the business. Recognition and communication are also very important manager key responsibilities. Management, leadership skills and efforts will determine the success in  providing a good environment where the employees will be motivated therefore will remain loyal to the company. Southwest Airlines is an excellent example of what most airlines companies are striving for. Some of its ways to motivate an employee who has no interest in attending a training class are: 1- Reward and recognition. Employees kno w that the company provides meaningful recognition and rewards for their performance. They know precisely what the company gives them in return for their unique work. The entire employees place particular importance in exploring every possible technique approach and devise to recognize outstanding performance. Southwest identifies all employees directly in proportion to their personal accomplishments. This generates a contagious shared energy across the whole organization and as consequence the work environment is animated with enthusiasm and joy and this atmosphere is what the employees love. For their employees, compensation is of secondary importance. By generously rewarding its employees for excellent performance, Southwest Airlines is able to maintain loyalty, job satisfaction and high level of personal motivation. 2- Performance Management. A key feature of Southwest Airlines performance management is its performance transparency. To begin with, the company measures three dimension of performance: Employee wellbeing, customer satisfaction and shareholder gain. To reach their goals, the performance of the average worker is critical (Deutschen dorf, 2014). Therefore, Southwest Airlines stresses a demanding tracking and rewarding of individual performance, attached with clear immediate and straight feedback. The employees have a strong image of the background in which they work; they clearly understand how performance is measured and what it is they can do in order to improve it. The understanding of current individual performance and organizational performance is a key factor not only in Southwest Airlines employee motivation, but also in any employee motivation setting. Develop a survey to collect feedback from the employees who attend the training. Companies should give a chance to their employees to express their thoughts on the direction of the company has the opposite effect. It is very important for the company to find out their opinions of a specific training class and it is more likely they will take a personal stake in the business and feel like they are part of the team. Every method of gathering employee feedback depends on what challenges you need to address as a business.  Common questions managers seek when employees complete their training classes are: Was the course appropriate to your needs? Were the training personnel sufficiently knowledgeable and professional? Was the training facility good? Was the training package communication available to you organization? Was the training course complete? And lastly, the amount of communication with you and your department. Training and Evaluation = Required fields How satisfied are you: Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied Was the course appropriate Training personnel are sufficiently knowledgeable Quality of the training facility Communication of the training package The training course overall Amount of communication with you/your department References Deutschendorf, H. (2014). 7 key elements in southwest airlines employee motivation. Retrieved from: http://www.fastcompany.com/3024949/dialed/7-ways-to-keep-employees-happy Dugan, T. (2014). Developing and training human resources in organizations/ small business chron. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/developing-training-human-resources-organizations-697.html La Tasha. (2013). Southwest airlines needs assessment and analysis. Retrieved from: http://trainingdevelopmentsystems.edublogs.org/2013/03/15/southwest-airline-needs-assessment-and-analysis/ Lynn, D. (2014). How to implement an employee training program. Retrieved from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/207076-how-to-implement-an-employee-training-program/ Southwest, A. (2014). Sothwest airlines and its flight simulation technicians. Retrieved from: http://www.swamedia.com/releases/southwest-airlines-and-its-flight-simulation-technicians-announce-two-year-contract.