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To: TobagoJack who wrote (25768)	11/27/2002 4:04:04 AM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Pssst... Jay, let me tell you a secret. One way to make a real killing with wind power is to nail down the "wind rights" in a highly desirable area. Sort of like the Texas wildcatters buying up oil rights for a song before the big strike. Of course this takes patience, capital, and a somewhat predatory nature. <g>

To: TobagoJack who wrote (25768)	11/27/2002 4:54:00 AM
From: Steve Lee	Respond to of 74559

UK govt minister making comments recently on how wind power could power the whole of UK and create a new manufacturing industry. news.bbc.co.uk

To: TobagoJack who wrote (25768)	11/27/2002 8:32:03 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Europe hit by spreading industrial unrest By David Turner, Robert Graham and Tony Barber Published: November 26 2002 21:35 \| Last Updated: November 26 2002 21:35 <<it is getting tight and tighter>> Demonstrations and industrial action caused disruption across Europe on Tuesday, as workers in Paris, Rome and London protested about pay and working conditions. Public sector workers are in dispute with their governments, fiercely resisting attempts to impose new structures on public pay and services during the economic downturn. France's public sector trade unions staged a protest in central Paris against privatisation, amid fears that their pension rights could be trimmed. Workers in a range of other French cities staged similar demonstrations, with selective strike action affecting public transport. The worst disruption was to air travel, as two unions representing air traffic controllers also began a strike, forcing the cancellation of nearly 70 per cent of flights in and out of main French airports. The strike began on Monday evening and was expected to continue until 6am on Wednesday. The civil aviation authority DGAC said that of 4,300 planned flights, only 500 were sure to go ahead, because of the strike. Rail and bus services also slowed across France. In the UK, firefighters spent their fifth successive day on picket lines, forcing troops to tackle blazes in antiquated vehicles. In Italy, thousands of carworkers, including Fiat employees, protested in Rome against a restructuring plan which involved job cuts. Unions speaking for Italian teachers and other public sector workers announced strikes on December 6 and 13 to defend pay demands and attack public spending policies. Keith Sisson, emeritus professor of industrial relations at Warwick Business School in Britain, said that the wave of discontent across Europe showed the "restlessness in the public sector", whose pay growth had been held down for most of the 1990s by central banks' determination to pursue a tight anti-inflation monetary policy. "They've been held down for a long time", Prof Sisson said. Public sector wage restraint has also been forced on governments by their attempts to eliminate budget deficits. In the case of Britain, the government managed for a few years to eliminate its budget deficit, but at the cost of forcing public sector pay growth to continue lagging behind that of private sector workers. Firefighters are demanding a double-digit pay rise, saying that their pay has fallen behind that of other workers. However, much of the discontent is also about government attempts to reform the system, whether through modernisation or outright privatisation. Britain's Fire Brigades Union and local government employers have managed to agree a 16 per cent pay increase over two years. But government ministers as well as many local authorities and fire chiefs are determined that pay should be linked closely to the reform of working practices. Earlier this autumn Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister, was defeated for only the second time at the governing Labour party's annual conference, after trade unions forced through a motion attacking the government's keenness for using the private sector to provide public services. Unions say that this policy degrades workers' pay, pensions and working conditions.