19/02/2014 BBC Channel Islands News


19/02/2014

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Tonight the strike is off. Condor bringing you that report.

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Tonight the strike is off. Condor Ferries crew will sail the Condor

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Rapide from St Malo tomorrow morning, two weeks after workers

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walked out. It's cost the company at least half a million pounds, and

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caused disruption to passengers and businesses across the islands. Jen

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Smith reports. 13 days, more than half a million

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pounds, and scores of cancelled services later. The strike is over.

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Condor's French sailors first walked out on February the 6th in a row

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over workers rights. They wanted to be on French contracts with the

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benefits those entail. That's not happened, but Condor says they've

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made compromises. Condor won't reveal specific information about

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individual contracts. But the Chief Executive has revealed the company

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has agreed to many of the worker's demands for better benefits`

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including improved medical insurance, accidental insurance and

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improved training programmes. Condor also remains open to discussions

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about re`registering the vessel under a French flag. It's not just

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Condor that's been left out of pocket. The strike has cost some

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businesses thousands of pounds, and left others stranded in France.

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Geoff Spencer Tucker told the BBC his ski business has lost out. We

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had 26 people that were due to go down to the Pyrenees. Lots and lots

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of people were very disappointed, myself included. Some were not able

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to the book due to family commitments so we had to give them a

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full refund. The Channel Island governments recently renewed

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Condor's contract to provide ferry services to the islands. There's

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five years left to run on the existing agreement, and Jersey's

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Economic Development Minister Senator Alan Maclean admits he can't

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guarantee such strike action won't happen again. As an island, we have

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to make sure we are not held hostage in the way we have over the

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situation. Any areas which can be improved to take that risk away we

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will have to consider and we make some really strong demands of Condor

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to deliver that business continuity for the future. Condor hopes the

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Rapide will sail from St Malo tomorrow morning. But two weeks of

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disruption won't be easily forgotten.

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One of the concerns mentioned in Jen Smith's report was whether the

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Condor Rapide should be re`registered in France rather than

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the Bahamas. Tonight Mark Carden from the RMT union, who staged a

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similar protest in Portsmouth last night in solidarity with their

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French counterparts, says that needs to change too. It is far from well

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respected, it is a flag of convenience and it is on a blacklist

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of international unions. They recognise these are flags of

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convenience. James Fulford is the CEO of Condor Ferries, I asked him

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what concessions had been made for the French crew. All of our crew get

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the same contracts. We are Guernsey `based employer. The differences are

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you live in the UK you with except the states provide some things. In

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France that does not happen and what we have done is put together a set

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of private medical insurance is too much was our UK crews would expect

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to get. Give us a bit more detail on the contracts. All contracts are the

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same in terms of pay but we have spotted a gap now for our French

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employees and we have enabled them to have some private medical

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insurance that the British crews would not need the NHS. They would

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not have done this slightly and I don't think they would do this now

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that we are working so much better. Did they get it wrong with the

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French workers? We could have done better. As I said earlier, nobody

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has won out of this. It has been really difficult for the crews and

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the company but most importantly for the Islanders. I would not describe

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it as you did but I would say that like anything there are ways we can

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work more effectively. What about businesses who've lost money because

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of the strike? Will you be offering them compensation? I am not sure

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that I would go that far. If you look at most insurance policies

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this is an action that we were not notified of and it was an unforeseen

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action. Looking back words is there anything we could have done better?

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That is different from saying we ought to be held out for that. It

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would be opportunistic to take that approach. Guernsey Police have this

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evening released the name of the man whose body was found at Albecq on

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the west coast on Monday lunchtime. 75`year`old Brian Kindred was

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identified today. Guernsey Police aren't treating it as suspicious, a

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cause of death isn't known. Hundreds of dead sea birds have been

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found on Jersey's beaches because of the recent storms. Over 450 have

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been found in the last two to three weeks. The birds are of various

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species including Puffins, razorbills, and local european

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shacks, which are already in decline.

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EasyJet has re`enforced its commitment to Jersey. Company bosses

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today told delegates at the Chamber of Commerce that the launch of a

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three time daily flight to Gatwick, due to start in March, showed how

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serious easyJet is about Jersey The airline last year withdrew an

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application to fly to Guernsey. Solar panels are set to be put on

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the top of a Government building in Guernsey It's hoped the move at

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Frossard House could save the island money in the long term.

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That's the news from us, the National weather forecast is next

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after our local outlook. We promised you some slightly

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brighter weather but so far this week we have not done too badly

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Towards the weather we have an increased strength of wind but

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tomorrow is a breezy day with rain clearing two showers. Some outbreaks

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of rain overnight and very misty and Marky. Towards the morning,

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temperatures dipping to around eight Celsius. A wet start to the day with

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the rain clearing replaced by showers. Sunshine now and then add

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10 Celsius the highest temperature. Expect to see a similar sort of day

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on Friday and Saturday is a bright and Friday and Sunday is when they

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but it may be dry with outbreaks of rain overnight. That is all from the

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team here and I will leave you with the summary.

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showers if you are on the Quay. Friday, a fine day. For the weekend,

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here is the BBC National weather. We have got rain and wind in the

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forecast, but the good news is that it is not severe. Over the next 24

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hours, some of us will get rain and the winds will be

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