Dear Sir,

A friend recently gave me a copy of The Workers Voice dated January 16, he drew my attention to an article headlined “The Belco Strike”.

An editor’s note says that the article was taken in part from The History of the BIU, by Ira Philip.

I hope that if a copy of that book was donated to the Bermuda Library, it would have been placed in the fiction section.

I read it with interest and in my opinion it appeared to be an attempt to justify the strike, but it was inaccurate and seriously flawed. For example, it claimed that Belco would grant recognition to the BIU only if it received a 60 per cent yes vote. That is not true.

Belco, like all other power companies, is divided into three sections: administration, power station and line department. The line department was the only section that was dissatisfied; Belco’s management was quite aware of this.

Later in the article and I quote “was reckoned highly unlikely that the inside plant comprising mainly white collar employees, who were white by race, would vote in favour, or who would join the union, by contrast.

“The outside plant were all black except for one Portuguese, John Mello, who was the division president”. Wrong again. John Mello was the storeman in the power station. So by Mr Philip’s reasoning, that would make him white collar.

I found it amusing that Mr Philip would refer to the power station workers as white collar. Obviously, he has never been inside a diesel power station and experienced the noise, heat and pungent smell of diesel oil.

The article also claimed that Belco practised unacceptable racial policies regarding the locker rooms.

The writer claims that these were assigned on race and signs were posted to ensure that no one made any mistakes; in other words, there were “black toilets” and “white toilets”. That is unadulterated rubbish.

The fact is that at that time there was no building in the power station big enough to accommodate all the labourers, engine cleaners, electricians, operators and mechanics.

All the changing rooms had the same facilities: showers, toilet, wash/hand basin. Every man had his own locker.

There was no racial divide in the power station. We often worked six or seven days a week, sometimes 12-hour shifts. I never saw any of the signs that Mr Philip mentioned. The reason I didn’t see any signs was because they never existed.

In 1965, the top management at Belco was as listed: Llewellyn Vorley — general manager; Alf Oughton — company secretary; Bert Sibley — production engineer; Eugene Cox — assistant production engineer; Ken Hodgson — line department.

They were decent men of the highest integrity, and no way would they have allowed such signs to be displayed.

I believe the BIU miscalculated the mood of the majority of the hourly paid Belco employees. We had in-house training, paid sick leave, paid vacation leave, insurance and after ten years’ employment became eligible for a company pension, based on years of employment and payable on retirement. I don’t remember if the ladies in the office had paid maternity leave at that time.

Last but not least, every employee received a Christmas bonus based on pay grade and years of service. The strike had nothing to do with workers’ rights or working conditions. With about 230 employees, Belco was seen as a “cash cow” by the BIU leadership.

I worked at Belco in the power station from August 1964 to November 1975. When the Electricity Supply Trade Union (ESTU) was formed in 1965, I became a member. In January 1967, I became the treasurer. I held that position until July 1972, when I resigned for personal reasons. I remained a member of the ESTU until 1975, when I left to work at the Azzawayia Oil Refinery in Libya.

I do not think too many people read The Workers Voice, but I believe the public are entitled to the facts of the true situation at Belco, and not the unnecessary, divisive drivel contained in The Workers Voice article.

I don’t know if it was just a case of sour grapes because the BIU had been rejected by the hourly paid workers at Belco. What I do know is that when the ESTU was formed by the workers, for the workers, it has stood the test of time.

FRANK THOMPSON