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West Yorkshire teachers are staging a one-day strike over plans to turn their school into an academy. Staff at Prince Henry's Grammar School are walking out because they fear the change could affect their pay and conditions. Head teacher Janet Sheriff said there was “no intention whatsoever” of changing terms of employment. Ms Sheriff stated the academy move would ensure the school got “good value for money”. Unions have given notice that 64 teachers will take part in the strike action. WinTA PC Clock is a simple PC-based booking system from Tensor that requires no clocking stations and therefore is ideal for a school or college. PC Clock is also designed for companies where each employee has access to a PC. Pupils are simply presented with an input screen on their computer allowing them to ‘register’ or clock in and out. Tensor also supplies comprehensive automated smart card time and attendance clocking networks that report on employee absence, holiday entitlement and lateness.  

Just two years ago the company was shedding staff as reeled during the recession, but now Jaguar Land Rover is taking on 1,000 jobs. The new positions are in support of the Midlands based firm's ambition to deliver “40 significant product actions over the next five years”. This may include new models or derivatives of existing cars. Tensor can add value to your firm with our automated smart card Time and Attendance clocking systems. Using a Tensor Smart Card and input device (keypad or barcode scanner), workers can book time against jobs to produce a fully costed analysis and breakdown of time spent on each job. Reports show jobs that are over budget or those approaching their budget limit. This information can also be exported to a spreadsheet. The new range of T32xx clocks, one of which is in the picture, actively communicate with the computer system when a person clocks. Real time communications provides you with the information as it occurs.  

Goods worth at least £10,000 were stolen from a farm machinery retailer on Monday (November 7, 2011) night. Two trailers were taken and used to remove various items and tractor parts. Ian Robertson, service manager at the south coast Massey Ferguson agricultural dealership, said staff were angry at the disruption. Mr Robertson appealed for anybody who is offered the goods or who saw the two trailers being towed away last weekend to call the police. To ensure extra security at your premises, biometric technology – which measures unique human characteristics – can be added to a Tensor access control system to provide irrefutable proof of identity. Tensor has a range of dermal fingerprint scanners that read below the surface layer of skin down to the dermal layer where your true fingerprint resides. With biometrics implemented on an access control system, the employee is prompted to present their fingerprint to the scanner where it is matched to the one on file, typically within one second.  

Three-quarters of the 515 UK financial professionals who were recently surveyed think that the pay gap between rich and poor is too wide. Two-thirds of respondents told representatives of the market research company ComRes that “salary and bonuses” was the most important motivation for financial services professionals, with “enjoyment of work” way behind in second. The survey was conducted between August 30 and September 12 and was released to mark the 25th anniversary of financial deregulation in Britain. Tensor offers an array of Time and Attendance management systems to suit the payroll department in any size of business. WinTA makes a simple job of calculating complex pay and bonus structures, including overtime. Workers paid on an annual contract basis can be handled by the annualised hours procedures and reports within one of our flagship clocking recording networks, called WinTAnet. The WinTA system allows you to create a series of shift premium rules that enable employees to earn bonus payments under special circumstances.  

Lawyers have won an injunction to prevent the illegal reoccupation of the notorious Dale Farm site. Eighty families were moved out of the area late last month, while three families remain legally. Basildon Council acted to win the High Court ruling after it was reported that travellers intended to return to the site in Essex once workers finished clearing it. The land was cleared in October following a 10-year dispute over unauthorised plots. Tensor is the ultimate supplier of Access Control barriers, door entry devices and networks. The security status of each access point is controlled by the Smart Card scanner settings associated to that particular point. These settings determine the locked status of the door, minute-by-minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the year. The sophistication and speed of smart card control is available if you do not want to use a PC – the T2002 is a ‘stand alone’ two-door system. This can connect with up to two Tensor scanners, and is ideal for remote barriers.  

A council wants to end funding for nearly half of its 247 public conveniences to save about £1.2 million. The majority of the WC facilities run by Cornwall Council will be forced to close unless town or parish councils take over the funding. One of the objectors, chairman Kim Wonnacott of St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council, said: “People in the parish feel they are already paying for public toilets in their Cornwall Council rates so it's a case of double charging.” Tensor’s versatile gate, barrier and turnstile access control technology can be applied to toilets. The coin operated versions are suited to controlling access in toilets for a nominal fee, which in turn will help the WC facilities to survive. When absolute entrance or exit security is required, full height turnstiles are the perfect solution. Ideal in unmanned locations, they provide maximum security together with a strong visual deterrent. Tensor's full height turnstiles are tamper-resistant and weatherproof ensuring they can last in even the most unforgiving of environments.  

Research gleaned from 16 UK police forces suggests crime goes up in the winter when the clocks go back. British Summer Time this year closed on Sunday and the clocks reverted one hour. Using figures from those police authorities, insurance company Aviva found burglaries rose by 26 per cent in the week surrounding October 2010’s clock change compared with the weekly average for the rest of that year. Therefore it is time to invest in a crime-busting Tensor Digital CCTV system for a site or office. Our technology works extremely well as a standalone system, and can also be fully integrated with any previously installed Tensor access control or visitor monitoring equipment. Compared to analogue CCTV, a far greater number of digital CCTV cameras can be connected to your network and viewed, all through a single PC monitor. You are not restricted to the type of camera you wish to install as the CCTV software is able to support all cameras within our product range.  

At the same time as it plans to save £670 million the BBC has defended the £1m-plus pay packet it gives its top stars. Conservative MP Damian Collins called for the BBC to justify the large amounts “when every pound they spend is being scrutinised”. A spokesman for the BBC responded: “We never discuss talent pay or talent negotiation.” The broadcaster has published an anonymous list of how many of its employees are paid more than £500,000 in a move to defuse criticism. Tensor supply advanced time and attendance and payroll systems like WinTAnet which cover all major hours calculation methods. Therefore tricky issues such as sorting staff pay when overtime, night shifts, holidays and bonuses are involved present no problem. Additional features are available with WinTAnet which take into account diversity with working rules between different organisations. The Shift Premiums function means complex payment schemes can be used, based on factors such as the time of working to the grade of employee.  

More than 100 jobs face the axe at a naan bread factory. The site’s owner, Allied Bakeries, has issued staff with a 90-day notice of redundancy, saying the cause is “fierce competition” in the bakery market. General manager of Patak's breads Martin Brewis said the planned shutdown early next year of the factory in Cumbernauld (Scotland), was "a very difficult decision". Allied Bakeries said it had not ruled out alternative plans for the plant. Tensor can help companies make efficiency savings with our time and attendance systems that offer swift throughput even at peak times. Contactless smart cards are used to operate your time and attendance systems. Our most popular smart card is the T1305, which is thin and flexible enough to be carried in your wallet. There is no battery, thus cards can be read an infinite number of times. Each smart card reader transmits a 125 KHz frequency field (the electromagnetic field), which is picked up by an aerial in the smart card.  

An attempted robbery on a shop was thwarted by a snatch raid in reverse. This time shop worker Rasaratnam Rahulan grabbed what he thought was a weapon that was threatening him in the Sunderland premises. Mr Rahulan said: “I didn't want to give him the money. I didn't think about my safety, I'm just like that, I follow my instincts and thought I could get the gun off him.” In fact the ‘gun’ was a fake. Tensor can install for businesses a T3512 one door entry Smart Card Access Control system including a T3511 controller and WinACnet PC software. Door control plus Movement Monitoring is just one example of a T3512 configuration. The T3511 is so versatile it can use passive infrared sensors (PIR’s) and the WinACnet software to create a register of date and time stamped movement transactions recorded by the PC. This feature shows when and where movement in an area has taken place, and can trigger the alarm if required.

Police have promoted the Be A Nice Guy (BANG) campaign aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour over this year’s Hallowe’en and Bonfire Night period. Deputy Chief Constable of North Wales Police Ian Shannon said: “We wish for everyone to have a safe and happy Hallowe’en, but would like to remind people to have fun responsibly rather than disturbing others.” Their advice includes not knocking on doors where a ‘No Trick or Treat’ sign is visible. You can ensure a quiet crime-free Hallowe’en for your premises with Tensor’s access control and barrier devices. Tensor’s gates, barriers, and turnstiles fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems giving you full jurisdiction over movement and access in and around your site. Car park barriers are the number one solution for controlling vehicle access to your site's road entry points. Immediately able to recognise and allow or deny access to personnel, the highly adaptable range of automatic barriers from Tensor caters for all sizes of premises.

Daylight Saving Time starts at 2am on Sunday (October 30, 2011). Business will have to adjust their clocks and other systems like their PC networks or clocking regimes which rely on telling the correct time. Also, the EU Working Time Directive provides a complex set of employment rules and regulations that govern the number of hours an employee can work, and ultimately dictates the way all companies within the EU must operate. Tensor supplies time and attendance .NET systems that are the best available at handling all clocking recording methods. Tensor WinTA Lite, WinTA Enterprise, WinTA Access Enterprise, WinTA 16, WinTA CS or Tensor.NET systems will all need their Daylight Saving Time information changed, as this will affect the time shown on your Smart Card clocking stations. The changes are easily done – however, for those who require personal advice, the Tensor Helpdesk is easily contactable by telephone, fax, email or via this link. Helpdesk support is free to customers with current maintenance contracts.