:00:00. > :00:13.Tonight the strike is off. Condor bringing you that report.
:00:14. > :00:16.Tonight the strike is off. Condor Ferries crew will sail the Condor
:00:17. > :00:19.Rapide from St Malo tomorrow morning, two weeks after workers
:00:20. > :00:22.walked out. It's cost the company at least half a million pounds, and
:00:23. > :00:29.caused disruption to passengers and businesses across the islands. Jen
:00:30. > :00:32.Smith reports. 13 days, more than half a million
:00:33. > :00:38.pounds, and scores of cancelled services later. The strike is over.
:00:39. > :00:43.Condor's French sailors first walked out on February the 6th in a row
:00:44. > :00:46.over workers rights. They wanted to be on French contracts with the
:00:47. > :00:51.benefits those entail. That's not happened, but Condor says they've
:00:52. > :00:55.made compromises. Condor won't reveal specific information about
:00:56. > :00:58.individual contracts. But the Chief Executive has revealed the company
:00:59. > :01:00.has agreed to many of the worker's demands for better benefits`
:01:01. > :01:07.including improved medical insurance, accidental insurance and
:01:08. > :01:09.improved training programmes. Condor also remains open to discussions
:01:10. > :01:15.about re`registering the vessel under a French flag. It's not just
:01:16. > :01:18.Condor that's been left out of pocket. The strike has cost some
:01:19. > :01:22.businesses thousands of pounds, and left others stranded in France.
:01:23. > :01:38.Geoff Spencer Tucker told the BBC his ski business has lost out. We
:01:39. > :01:43.had 26 people that were due to go down to the Pyrenees. Lots and lots
:01:44. > :01:50.of people were very disappointed, myself included. Some were not able
:01:51. > :01:53.to the book due to family commitments so we had to give them a
:01:54. > :01:55.full refund. The Channel Island governments recently renewed
:01:56. > :01:58.Condor's contract to provide ferry services to the islands. There's
:01:59. > :02:00.five years left to run on the existing agreement, and Jersey's
:02:01. > :02:03.Economic Development Minister Senator Alan Maclean admits he can't
:02:04. > :02:14.guarantee such strike action won't happen again. As an island, we have
:02:15. > :02:21.to make sure we are not held hostage in the way we have over the
:02:22. > :02:25.situation. Any areas which can be improved to take that risk away we
:02:26. > :02:31.will have to consider and we make some really strong demands of Condor
:02:32. > :02:34.to deliver that business continuity for the future. Condor hopes the
:02:35. > :02:37.Rapide will sail from St Malo tomorrow morning. But two weeks of
:02:38. > :02:41.disruption won't be easily forgotten.
:02:42. > :02:44.One of the concerns mentioned in Jen Smith's report was whether the
:02:45. > :02:47.Condor Rapide should be re`registered in France rather than
:02:48. > :02:50.the Bahamas. Tonight Mark Carden from the RMT union, who staged a
:02:51. > :02:53.similar protest in Portsmouth last night in solidarity with their
:02:54. > :03:05.French counterparts, says that needs to change too. It is far from well
:03:06. > :03:13.respected, it is a flag of convenience and it is on a blacklist
:03:14. > :03:16.of international unions. They recognise these are flags of
:03:17. > :03:19.convenience. James Fulford is the CEO of Condor Ferries, I asked him
:03:20. > :03:29.what concessions had been made for the French crew. All of our crew get
:03:30. > :03:35.the same contracts. We are Guernsey `based employer. The differences are
:03:36. > :03:39.you live in the UK you with except the states provide some things. In
:03:40. > :03:49.France that does not happen and what we have done is put together a set
:03:50. > :03:53.of private medical insurance is too much was our UK crews would expect
:03:54. > :04:02.to get. Give us a bit more detail on the contracts. All contracts are the
:04:03. > :04:09.same in terms of pay but we have spotted a gap now for our French
:04:10. > :04:12.employees and we have enabled them to have some private medical
:04:13. > :04:19.insurance that the British crews would not need the NHS. They would
:04:20. > :04:24.not have done this slightly and I don't think they would do this now
:04:25. > :04:29.that we are working so much better. Did they get it wrong with the
:04:30. > :04:35.French workers? We could have done better. As I said earlier, nobody
:04:36. > :04:39.has won out of this. It has been really difficult for the crews and
:04:40. > :04:46.the company but most importantly for the Islanders. I would not describe
:04:47. > :04:52.it as you did but I would say that like anything there are ways we can
:04:53. > :04:55.work more effectively. What about businesses who've lost money because
:04:56. > :05:00.of the strike? Will you be offering them compensation? I am not sure
:05:01. > :05:10.that I would go that far. If you look at most insurance policies
:05:11. > :05:15.this is an action that we were not notified of and it was an unforeseen
:05:16. > :05:20.action. Looking back words is there anything we could have done better?
:05:21. > :05:24.That is different from saying we ought to be held out for that. It
:05:25. > :05:29.would be opportunistic to take that approach. Guernsey Police have this
:05:30. > :05:32.evening released the name of the man whose body was found at Albecq on
:05:33. > :05:34.the west coast on Monday lunchtime. 75`year`old Brian Kindred was
:05:35. > :05:37.identified today. Guernsey Police aren't treating it as suspicious, a
:05:38. > :05:41.cause of death isn't known. Hundreds of dead sea birds have been
:05:42. > :05:45.found on Jersey's beaches because of the recent storms. Over 450 have
:05:46. > :05:48.been found in the last two to three weeks. The birds are of various
:05:49. > :05:51.species including Puffins, razorbills, and local european
:05:52. > :05:54.shacks, which are already in decline.
:05:55. > :05:57.EasyJet has re`enforced its commitment to Jersey. Company bosses
:05:58. > :06:00.today told delegates at the Chamber of Commerce that the launch of a
:06:01. > :06:04.three time daily flight to Gatwick, due to start in March, showed how
:06:05. > :06:09.serious easyJet is about Jersey The airline last year withdrew an
:06:10. > :06:14.application to fly to Guernsey. Solar panels are set to be put on
:06:15. > :06:17.the top of a Government building in Guernsey It's hoped the move at
:06:18. > :06:26.Frossard House could save the island money in the long term.
:06:27. > :06:28.That's the news from us, the National weather forecast is next
:06:29. > :06:37.after our local outlook. We promised you some slightly
:06:38. > :06:42.brighter weather but so far this week we have not done too badly
:06:43. > :06:46.Towards the weather we have an increased strength of wind but
:06:47. > :06:54.tomorrow is a breezy day with rain clearing two showers. Some outbreaks
:06:55. > :07:02.of rain overnight and very misty and Marky. Towards the morning,
:07:03. > :07:06.temperatures dipping to around eight Celsius. A wet start to the day with
:07:07. > :07:14.the rain clearing replaced by showers. Sunshine now and then add
:07:15. > :07:19.10 Celsius the highest temperature. Expect to see a similar sort of day
:07:20. > :07:23.on Friday and Saturday is a bright and Friday and Sunday is when they
:07:24. > :07:28.but it may be dry with outbreaks of rain overnight. That is all from the
:07:29. > :07:32.team here and I will leave you with the summary.
:07:33. > :07:41.showers if you are on the Quay. Friday, a fine day. For the weekend,
:07:42. > :07:48.here is the BBC National weather. We have got rain and wind in the
:07:49. > :07:55.forecast, but the good news is that it is not severe. Over the next 24
:07:56. > :07:56.hours, some of us will get rain and the winds will be