Labour and Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton is set to amend the Labour Relations Act 1975 to even up the way certifying and decertifying unions can be handled.

Mr. Horton told : ?It will include a revised and fairer process for decertifying a trade union, an area that has been of considerable concern to trade unions for many years.?

In order to gain union recognition, 35 percent of the non-managerial staff at a workplace must become union members, then write to the Labour Relations Officer requesting that union be certified as sole bargaining agent. The Labour Relations Officer then continues the recognition process in line with the law.

In order to de-certify a trade union, any 35 percent of non-managerial employees, including those not in the union, are required to initiate the decertification process. The proposed amendment, set for the summer session, will require that the 35 percent initiating the decertification process must be members of the particular union.

The review of the law follows a 2003 ruling which held that every worker in a company must be given the right to vote to decertify a union.

The Court of Appeal rejected the Bermuda Industrial Union?s appeal in the recognition row at BAS-Serco where there were two separate bargaining units ? one for BIU members and the other for non-members.

The dispute had sparked an Island-wide strike when BIU members walked out in support of six union members who claimed the company ignored their demands for a fresh pay deal.

Both employees and employers have welcomed the move to tidy up the law.

Bermuda Employers Council Executive Director Martin Law said: ?It is something which needs clarity, there seems to be some confusion.?

And BIU leader Derrick Burgess said the new amendment would make things fairer.

The Corporation of Hamilton is seeking a Supreme Court review of a Government decision that certified the BIU as the sole bargaining agent for its workers.

The Corporation want a review of the Labour Minister?s decision not to refer the matter to a tribunal after the BIU narrowly won a ballot for certification.

The Corporation claim certification can only be gained if the idea gets a majority of everyone eligible to vote ? plus one rather than a simple majority of votes cast. The vote in November was 39 for, 37 against but 12 eligible voters did not cast a ballot.