On the latter, he feels contractors should swim with the tide through 2008.

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David Arkless of Manpower, an employment-services firm, thinks that in Europe even more than America, union leaders face a crucial decision about whether to swim with the tide of history or against it.

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"I choose what I eat or whether I smoke, what people have told us is they want help to swim with the tide rather than against the current to make the healthy choice the easy one, " he said.

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With many of its debt-ridden euro partners in recession, Germany could only swim against the tide for so long.

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"You can't swim against the tide in terms of technology and we're not the only sporting event having to deal with this challenge, " said Booth.

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