18/02/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

gone wrong with Wales? But now on BBC One, it's time

gone wrong with Wales? But now on Good evening.

After 13 days of strike action in St Malo, the Condor Ferries French pay

dispute has spread to the UK. Members of the Rail Maritime and

Transport Workers Union protested at Portsmouth Harbour, in solidarity

with the French sailors who are calling for better pay and

conditions. It comes as political pressure grows on the Channel

Islands governments to resolve the situation, as Louise Walter reports.

She's been stuck in St Malo for nearly two weeks now. The crew of

the Condor Rapide determined they will not give up until their

conditions are met. The company have already missed out on business from

Guernsey's half`term and, with no sign of movement as we head to

Jersey's school holidays, some here in the States think it's time the

service was opened up to competition. Historically we have

had two operators on the route. Obviously, with the recession in the

last several years only one operator has been on the routes. Hopefully,

we are coming out of the recession and should be considering opening up

the route again to another operator. But the island's Economic

Development Minister says now is not the time to re`tender the service.

We have also carried out quite a number of economic studies, all of

which are proven that competition doesn't work on a year`round basis.

It is not a route that can sustain it. Tonight, Portsmouth Harbour is

the scene of protest by members of the RMT and ITF unions. They have

concerns over rates of pay for Ukranian sailors employed by Condor

and also want to show their support for the strikers in France. We have

been campaigning against Condor and the sub standard conditions on their

ships for over a year. The French seafarers have quite rapidly. We

wanted to show our support for the French seafarers against the

company. Condor say they believe their Ukranian workers are happy

with pay and conditions and believe that this new protest is not

genuinely connected to the situation in France.

Well, earlier BBC Radio Jersey's Political reporter Chris Rayner told

me how big a headache the Condor dispute is for Channel Islands'

governments Guernsey Electricity say some islanders are without power

tonight. Well, it is a headache More of a headache with the

travelling public and businesses. What is clear today from the states

is that there were pressures from politicians to get this resolved.

Senator Alan McInally in, the economic development Minister, was

saying today that Condor made the right decision not escalating the

dispute by asking the striking workers to be taken off the ferry,

and adopted to negotiate. He said of the word has been taking time,

progress has been made. I'm sure plenty has been going on behind the

scenes. Condor three is a happy to keep talking. What is happening

behind`the`scenes is this concern about businesses and the freight

going to France. The government is looking at providing possibly

providing alternatives for example shell fishermen. It has been a

difficult season for the fishing industries in the Channel Islands,

and this isn't helping. Guernsey Electricity say some

islanders are without power tonight. They have issued a helpline number

if you're without power. Its 08 0 587 0285.

Guernsey Electricity say some islanders were without power for a

time tonight. It happened after a fault in the

Route Isabelle area of St Peter Port. The private golf clubs using

Guernsey's L'Ancresse Common could in future have to pay substantially

more rent for the land. Rent has been set at just ?100 a

year for the last 70 years ` a fraction of the cost of maintaining

the area. Penny Elderfield reports. It's land that has many uses, with

golf perhaps one of the most popular. Although not so much today,

with the wet weather putting a stop to it. Around 1,500 golfers pay the

two private clubs here up to ?1 000 pounds each year to play, but only a

small fraction, roughly nine pence per golfer, goes to the council that

has to maintain this land. The Vale Commons Council says it just isn't

bringing in enough money to do its job, with ?30,000 coming from the

States each year, and the two golf clubs paying just ?100 rent. With a

shortfall of around ?130,000 a year, they say the situation needs to

change. As well as looking at other income sources, like parking

charges, the planned rent increase would see the cost per golfer go up

by almost ?80 a year. The clubs agree they should pay more, but

there's still negotiating to be done on how much. For the golfers, those

I spoke to felt they shouldn't be the only ones picking up the bill.

In view of the fact that this is a public area and should be able to be

enjoyed by everyone, I would have thoughts that perhaps the recreation

committee or the environment would want to contain `` would want to

contribute something towards it The current rent agreement ends in 016

and those involved in negotiations hope they're on course to make a

decision by then. There have been scenes at Jersey

Rugby Club today which have never been seen there before! The players

have been going head`to`head with dancers from the Moscow City Ballet,

who are here to perform at the Jersey Opera House this week. The

ballerinas learnt how to do line`outs and scrums and the rugby

players, wearing red and black tutus, showed off their dancing

skills. That's the news. The national

weather is here in just a moment, but first our regional outlook with

Alexis Green. Good evening. We are expecting wet

and windy conditions tomorrow nights and into early on Thursday morning.

Noble see showers dotted about tomorrow. There will be some

sunshine, as well. This area of low pressure will bring a weather system

towards us tomorrow evening and through the early hours of Thursday.

The winds will pick up in the channel and we are expecting just up

to 50 miles and are. There will be some heavy rain tomorrow night into

early Thursday morning. Tonight we can expect a few showers dotted

about. Temperatures average for the time of year, possibly more dry

weather then showers and we might see some mist and fog patches. The

winds are West to north`westerly. Tomorrow morning might be mist and

fog first thing. Showers will start rolling, but possibly there will be

more sunshine and showers earlier. The rain is waiting in the wings,

high ever. heavy. More international weather

next. Good evening. Whilst today did bring

some heavy showers, they moved through quite quickly. For much of

tomorrow, it will stay dry if a bit cloudy and relatively mild. Patchy

cloud at the moment. There will be some rain later in the day on

Wednesday. Any rain through the night tonight will be patchy and

light. We will see some occasional breaks in the cloud. Foremost, it is