| LA Acad's injuction dismissed
A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed the Los Angeles-based TV Academy's request for a preliminary injunction against its New York counterpart. Judge Manuel Real ruled Tuesday that the dispute between the West Coast Academy of TV Arts & Sciences and the East Coast's National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences should be settled in arbitration rather than in the courts. ATAS had filed suit against NATAS last week, arguing that the New York academy was attempting to launch a massive roster of Broadband Emmy awards without proper approval. NATAS took issue with ATAS' decision to file suit given that the two sides were already in arbitration on the matter. Real agreed with NATAS and said the disagreement should go back to arbitration. "The judge has not ruled on the merits of the case.
Town awaiting Excel spring startup
Work that was to have resumed Monday on the north phase of the Lovell Water and Sewer Infrastructure Project had not commenced as of Tuesday afternoon, Project Engineer Frank Page of HKM Engineering confirmed Tuesday.
Page said contractor Excel Construction had not submitted proper work plans as required by the project contract and would not be allowed to start up until the paperwork was in place and approved.
They do not have a detailed schedule or a detailed traffic control plan, Page said. Both are required per the contract documents. We are not going to let them get out of hand this year.
Page said the contractor has been submitting and re-submitting paperwork in an attempt to gain approval for the start-up, but until the schedule and traffic control plans are approved by HKM, Excel will not be allowed to proceed.
Laboratory workers out for two days
Medical laboratory workers began a national two-day strike at 8am on Wednesday and have given notice of further action. District health boards were in mediation on Tuesday with the Medical Laboratory Workers Union but were unable to reach an agreement. Each party is blaming the other for the impasse. DHBs spokesman and Canterbury DHB chief executive Gordon Davies said the union was not prepared to make a "meaningful shift in its position to find some common ground". Lab workers union secretary and treasurer Brian Raill said employers continued to "stonewall" negotiations. Workers were offered nothing new at the mediation. The strike, which will finish at 8am on Friday, will affect the supply of blood, through the New Zealand Blood Service, and laboratory specimen testing.
Union, DHBs in negotiation ahead of strike
District Health Boards (DHBs) and medical laboratory workers head back to mediation today but the union does not expect the talks to avoid a two-day strike set to start tomorrow. Medical Laboratory Workers Union members are set to walk off the job because of what they say is a lack of progress in a long-running pay and working conditions dispute. The union has about 1200 members working for 15 of the country's DHBs, the New Zealand Blood Service, Southern Community Laboratories and Medlab South. Medical Laboratory Workers Union national president Stewart Smith said he doubted today's negotiations would avoid the planned industrial action, but he hoped some issues would be resolved. Aside from the pay dispute, the union and DHBs were also deadlocked on issues such as contracted services being outside the collective agreement and hours of work.
Foreign mediation on ice pending Ukraine Constitutional Court ruling
International mediation in Ukraine's political crisis should wait for a decision from the country's constitutional court, the European Parliament deputy chairman has said. Meanwhile, supporters of pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich were back on the streets of Kiev, calling for the President's decree to dissolve Parliament to be overturned.
Yanukovich has hinted he could agree to fresh parliamentary elections, as long as a Presidential vote was held at the same time. Nearby, a smaller group voiced their support for pro-Western President Viktor Yuschenko. He insists on his decision but said he's flexible over a date for the poll. The Constitutional Court is to rule on the validity of the President's decree. But its decision has been delayed amid judges' claims of harassment.
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