Vintage Dancehall icon Big Youth says he had to behave like a “real bad man” in order to get whatever artist royalties were due to him for record sales of
The partial strike by biomedical scientists is part of a long-running pay dispute. Their union Unite claims the trust has backtracked on a 2019 agreement to upgrade the 21 staff to a higher grade on their specialist pay scale. They analyse patient blood samples at the Royal Blackburn and the Burnley General Teaching Hospitals. After an 85 per cent vote for industrial action the scientists will stop doing night, weekend and late shifts for a month. They will only work on their core days – Monday to Friday from 8.45am to 5pm and early shifts from 7am to 3pm from May 7 until June 4. Kate Quinn from the trust said any industrial action would not affect emergency care at the Royal Blackburn and said many staff had been regraded.
The partial strike by biomedical scientists is part of a long-running pay dispute. Their union Unite claims the trust has backtracked on a 2019 agreement to upgrade the 21 staff to a higher grade on their specialist pay scale. They analyse patient blood samples at the Royal Blackburn and the Burnley General Teaching Hospitals. After an 85 per cent vote for industrial action the scientists will stop doing night, weekend and late shifts for a month. They will only work on their core days – Monday to Friday from 8.45am to 5pm and early shifts from 7am to 3pm from May 7 until June 4. Kate Quinn from the trust said any industrial action would not affect emergency care at the Royal Blackburn and said many staff had been regraded.
BIOMEDICAL scientists will stop night and weekend shifts in a month-long action at two Lancashire hospitals over unpaid wages of up to £8,000 after management reneged on an agreed pay upgrade.
The 21 scientists analyse blood samples and carry out other procedures at Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Teaching Hospital, which are run by East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust.
Strike action, which will see the scientists stop working night and weekend shifts, will run continuously from Friday May 7 until Friday June 4.
Unite have warned that Blackburn might have to close its A&E unit during the strike.
Regional officer Keith Hutson said: “We are not prepared to see our members forgo back pay which, in some cases, amounts up to £8,000.
Anna Woodford CROSSING the Tees, Teesside’s biggest literary festival returns between Wednesday, June 9 and Saturday, June 20. The event, now in its seventh year, has been programmed entirely by Tees Valley library services, with support from local councils and Arts Council England, and features a huge range of interactive literary events from author-hosted discussions to writing workshops. Due to the uncertainty over ongoing Covid-restrictions, this year’s festival will take place entirely online, meaning that attendees can enjoy the wide variety of workshops and talks from the comfort of their own homes. Highlights of this year’s festival include, award-winning environmental journalist Tim Smedley discusses his book Clearing the Air: The Beginning and the End of Air Pollution on June 9.