Bermuda Industrial Union leader Chris Furbert pulled no punches in his rebuttal to sacked Corporation of Hamilton workers who said this week that the BIU did not fight to save their jobs.

“What’s not going to be tolerated by this organisation is when we give direction to members who lost their jobs because they didn’t listen to the BIU,” Mr Furbert said. The four arrived at the union last week demanding to meet with BIU president, Mr Furbert said. “I talked with them for about 20 minutes and they left and went to the media.”

Mr Furbert said that two had been referred to the Department of Workforce Development, which had requested their employer for a meeting, adding that he had phoned the department in the presence of the other two and received a prompt reply.

Conceding that he understood their frustration with the length of time to deal with their requests — with the longest wait being 15 months — Mr Furbert insisted that the BIU was doing its part in representing Robert Lee, Delmair Trott, Garreth Bean and Gregory Wainwright in their wrongful dismissal case.

Mr Furbert said the Corporation had no drug policy in place, and that one member had been told to refuse a drug test for that reason — but had complied, and consequently lost his job for violating a policy that “didn’t exist”.

“You ignored advice, lost your job, and then blamed it on the BIU.”

Added Mr Furbert: “What workers have to understand is that the union is not a hierarchy. The union is membership. If your colleagues are not prepared to stand up for you, then you have to ask why. I can’t go into a workplace and tell people what to do.”

Asked why workers faced long delays in getting their cases heard by a third party, Mr Furbert said the wait was typically caused by one side resisting going to arbitration.

“If you want to have an industrial action against management, you need to get the support of a majority and do what you want to do. You can’t go ahead with 35 or 40 per cent.”

Mr Furbert said the Corporation had engaged in management practices that would not be tolerated elsewhere, citing a case in which two workers had each accepted a month’s suspension after getting into a “disagreement” at a Christmas function after working hours.

“While I understand the fear of retribution, at some point you have to get past that. Where are you going to draw the line? If a termination is unjust, who is next?” he said, saying the onus lay on other workers to stand up in support of their colleagues.