28/02/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

Good evening. it's time for the news where you

Good evening. Baggage handlers who work for Blue

Islands at Jersey Airport could strike after facing a cut in hours

and pay. The union Unite says its members are absolutely livid that

their employer Servisair, who operates the service for the

airline, is threatening to reduce their working week. Jen Smith

reports. Servisair workers last threatened

strike action in 2009. The company employs baggage handlers at airports

around the world and for different airlines. Some of the work it does

at Jersey Airport is with the airline Blue Islands. But as Blue

Islands' ground handling work is going to be taken over by Aurigny,

up to 30 Servisair staff are worried about keeping their same working

conditions. The Unite union claims workers hours

couldn't be cut like this in the UK because employment legislation

wouldn't allow it. Deputy Geoff Southern says this latest dispute

shows Jersey's workers have little protection. Our employment laws

really are quite weak. What we need is legislation to protect workers

from changes to terms and conditions.

Jersey's Social Security Minister, who has responsibility for the

island's employment laws, says employers and employees have the

right to change their working terms and conditions through negotiation.

Well tonight Aurigny Air Services say the company is looking to fill

the ground handling positions from a number of different sources,

including former staff members at Servisair. Earlier, Jen Smith spoke

to Nick Corbel from the Unite union. I'm at the office of the union

Unite, which represents some of the baggage handlers at Jersey Airport.

The union claims up to 30 baggage handlers could be at risk of having

their hours cut. It's after Blue Islands stopped using the baggage

handling services of Servisair and switched to using Aurigny's staff.

The dispute has come about because blue Islands has decided to ask the

operator to cover the ground handling operation. That is

currently undertaken by service air. It means that there are number of

our colleagues whose jobs are at risk. The terms and conditions are

at risk. We are asking them to reap `` they having asked to reduce their

working hours to 37.5 hours per week. Our members are saying this is

an acceptable. They cannot afford to take a pay cut. Are we talking about

the lot of hours or redundancies? Potentially redundancies as well.

The number of workers needed at service air is going to drop because

they are going to move over. That is a concern for us as well because

those workers could be protected in the UK. They would move over to the

new operator. But that legislation is not applicable in the island It

ought to be. Who do you hold responsible? I hold the Jersey

government responsible. We have been banging on about this for years now.

I hope the Minister for social security responsible, as well as the

achievement stuff. `` as well as the government responsible.

A ward at Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital has reopened

after an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea. The Victoria Wing was

closed to new patients earlier this week. It was initially thought it

could be the norovirus, although initial tests haven't come back

positive for that. 15 non`emergency operations had to be postponed

because of the closure. Our main concern was to make sure the

infection did not spread to the medical wards, where the patients

tend to be older and slightly more vulnerable. I am pleased to say

there's no indication of any spread. We do have to postpone 15

operations. We have spoken to all those patients, apologised and said

we will try to book them as soon as possible.

A meeting about the future funding of Guernsey's L'Ancresse common

attracted a crowd of around 200 people. The Vale Commons council,

which maintains it, needs to find an additional ?130,000 each year. It's

been suggested the private golf clubs that use the area should pay a

lot more than the ?100 they currently contribute.

A man from Jersey is starring in a new Hollywood film that launched in

cinemas tonight. Cameron Perkins, or Cameron Moir as he's known on

screen, appears in the blockbuster Non Stop. The film tells the story

of a New York to London flight that's hijacked. It's up to air

marshal Bill Marks, played by Liam Neeson, to save the day. The young

actor from Jersey stars as an air steward in the film. I got the role

in the film. I was sent it by my agent while I was living in New

York. I got a call back. Basically I was filming a short film in New

York. I couldn't make the call back, but they pushed it back, which they

don't normally do and I met the producers on the `` any director,

and I was cast. The Aurora Borealis, known as the

Northern Lights, has made a rare appearance over the Channel Islands.

Jersey photographer Marc Whitehead was at Gronez in the North West of

the island last night when he captured it on camera. It was his

first attempt at night photography when he spotted the red glow.

Initially I came up to try and get the Milky Way. While capturing

that, I noticed a small glow in the distance. Every shot I took, it was

getting brighter, to the point where I could take my eyes from the camera

and see it with the naked eye. My been to realise I had caught it A

friend told me. It was overwhelming. Amazing pictures.

Newsnight is starting now on BBC Two with more on the crisis in Ukraine.

The national weather follows here on BBC One next after the forecast for

our part of the world with David Braine. From me, goodnight and have

a good weekend. Braine. From me,

Good evening. It is official, certainly for Guernsey ` the wettest

winter for well over 100 years. Into the weekend, there is some dry

weather to be had, although there is more rain heading our way on Sunday.

Tomorrow is rather cloudy. There might be a few showers around. We

could have some brightness. Any shells and `` any shells this

evening will fade away, leaving lengthy spells. It is going to turn

quite cold. Those winds continue to drop. It has been a blustery day

today across the islands. Tomorrow we will have some showers, some

sunshine. In between, some bright weather. Not very warm, seven

degrees the top temperature. On Sunday we have increasing amounts of

cloud and the breeze starts to get going again. After a fine start on

Sunday, we find the cloud increasing. Monday and Tuesday both

look similar. Expect showers on Monday, blustery south`west winds

and some of the showers quite heavy. Nine degrees is the top temperature.

weekend summary for London. Now time for the National forecast.

Good evening, if you are a meteorologist, tomorrow is the first

day of spring. But mother nature has little regard for such labels. That

is one explanation for why spring starts with a touch of frost and

fog. Sunny spells on Saturday before outbreaks of rain from the West on

Sunday. Already a lot of cloud out West but before that, we have to get

rid of this cloud across the East which is rather stubborn and brings

outbreaks of rain across parts of East Anglia and the far South East.

Scattered