Workers across Bermuda are fed up with a lack of respect from managers and have vowed not to take anymore, Bermuda Industrial Union leader Derrick Burgess said last night.

Around 200 workers met last night at BIU headquarters to discuss a range of grievances against employers such as Cablevision, Stevedoring Services, BTC and Government.

Workers leaders plan to hold a press conference on Thursday when they are expected to outline the problems and they changes they want from management, Mr. Burgess told The Royal Gazette last night.

"They discussed the problems they are having and they are really fed up and they are scheduling a press conference for Thursday," he said.

"They are concerned about the disrespect and attitudes of management, the security of their jobs, and the way they are being treated.

"The workers are tired and fed up and can't take no more and they will not take no more."

When asked if he thought strike action was likely because the workers are so angry, he said: "I don't know. I really can't comment on that because I don't know."

Mr. Burgess said the meeting was called by the BIU's General Council, which has representatives from the union's 17 divisions, to discuss problems with employers in companies across the Island, and also with Government.

He said he could not give details about the complaints because he only attended the meeting at the beginning and the end. Workers had asked to meet in private in the middle of the meeting, to vent their complaints.

Yesterday, around 100 workers at BTC downed tools and walked out in a dispute over outsourcing of work for cabling. The dispute began at around 9.30 a.m. but workers returned to their posts by around noon.

Mr. Burgess said the dispute at Cablevision, where Bermudian workers are complaining about a lack of respect from management and alleged preferential treatment for foreign workers, was still unresolved.

The BIU hinted two weeks ago that strike action could be on the agenda at Cablevision because of the depth of discontent from workers.

The troubled company sacked a worker before his three-month contract had expired because it said his work was not up to scratch.

Cablevision workers complained that local workers are being treated unfairly and vacancies were rarely advertised in-house.

Foreign workers were given help when they messed up on the job and some were working outside their contract conditions by driving vehicles without a licence, local staff claimed.

The workers walked out more two weeks ago when a local technician David Green was told by management to sign an agreement which made his financially responsible for the maintenance of vehicles and accidents.