Britain’s conciliation service Acas said it would broker talks between British Airways (BA) and the Unite union today aimed at halting four planned five-day strikes.
The talks will take place on the same day the airline seeks an injunction at the High Court in London to prevent the strikes going ahead, the first of which is scheduled to begin tomorrow.
“There is now an opportunity for the parties to seriously reflect on the issues and the implications of not reaching an agreement,” chief conciliator Peter Harwood said on Saturday. “We will be using all of our expertise in any way we can to help the parties reach a resolution.”
Unite, Britain’s biggest union, is locked in an increasingly bitter standoff with BA over jobs, pay and staffing.
Its members are due to walk out from tomorrow to Saturday, then from May 24 to May 28, May 30 to June 3 and June 5 to June 9 — the last strike ending just two days before the soccer World Cup starts in South Africa.
The government has warned that British airspace could be closed again from Sunday as a result of the volcanic ash drifting from Iceland — a no-fly zone over parts of Northern Ireland was imposed in the early hours of yesterday.
Asked whether the threat to flights posed by the ash cloud would have any impact on the strike action, Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, said: “Like many people, we are assessing the situation, but at this moment there is absolutely no need to call off the strike.”
“Our main focus is on making sure we have meaningful talks at Acas in the coming days,” he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique