Union (BIU) needs competition so that the Island's unionised hotel workers have more choice in who represents them.

In what he referred to as the "BIU factor'', Mr. Thomson said members were encouraged to work, but not too hard, and the BIU had created an "us and them'' mentality .

Speaking at Hamilton Rotary Club, Mr. Thomson examined a number of ways in which the BIU cripples the hotel industry, and said competition could lead to unions becoming more competitive and so better serve their members.

Mr. Thomson said his son had summed up the situation when he said: "The union seems to be defending the workers' wrongs rather than their rights.'' Mr. Thomson has much experience in the hospitality industry as he has worked with the Four Seasons in Toronto, the Four Seasons in San Francisco, and Newport Beach, California, and The Elbow Beach Hotel in Bermuda and dealt with unions every step of the way.

For years hotels were considered too expensive to operate as the labour costs were too expensive, but Mr. Thomson said workers are not actually paid much, it is the fact that there are too many people working inefficiently that causes costs to be extraordinarily high, leading to hotels being less profitable.

Mr. Thomson said when he worked at the Four Seasons Hotel in California they employed 317 staff but at the Elbow Beach, which is identical in size, 400 were employed.

There is no cross-utilisation in Bermuda's hotels where people do several different jobs, for example, if the front desk is not busy a worker can help with reservations or vice-versa.

Mr. Thomson said cross utilisation was used at the Four Seasons with great effect but said it may not happen at Bermuda's hotels as the BIU collects more fees if it has more members.

In California, Mr. Thomson said his washmen would come in from 4 a.m. to 12 p.m. enabling the maids to start work when they arrive.

During his tenure at Elbow Beach Hotel however, the washmen came in at 7 a.m.

and left at 3 p.m.

The maids who relied on the washmen for towels to put in guests rooms came in at 8 a.m. but as no towels were ready, they would sit and have breakfast in the cafeteria until about 9 a.m. when towels became ready.

Mr. Thomson, in full agreement with the washmen, tried to change his shift to start at 5 a.m. but the BIU refused unless he was paid time and a half, making what should have been a simple operation more costly and complex.

And he said this was just part of the inefficiency in Bermuda's hotel industry.

"These are real live truths, I lived it. We weren't able to effectively manage the business,'' said Mr. Thomson.

He said 13 people were employed in the laundry in the Four Seasons in California, but 23 in Bermuda's Elbow Beach.

He said if there was competition from other unions, employees could look at the benefit of one union versus another.

Competition would also likely lower union dues and create better relationships between employers and BIU members.

One of the biggest issues for workers is the $520 withdrawn from their wages, even if they are not a union member.

The Closed Shop Agreement takes $10 a week in dues from all workers, including non-BIU members who can choose a charity to receive their money.

Mr. Thomson said most maids would pay their dues to the BIU as money was taken from their cheques anyway and they might one day need the union for help, and he felt this was wrong.

In an example of how competition could benefit Union members Mr. Thomson said in 1996, BIU dues went up to $10 from $7, a 43 percent rise overnight.

If there was competition, such hikes would not be possible without the BIU loosing many members.

Under new labour laws recently passed in the House of Assembly, two weeks a year was determined to be a realistic time for sick leave.

However the BIU has determined that in the hotels, a person employed for zero to five years is entitled to six weeks leave, from five to ten years they are entitled to nine weeks, and over ten years, they are entitled to ten and a half weeks sick leave a year.

And they can accumulate up to 100 days if they do not take all their time in a year.

Mr. Thomson said if this was a benefit, it was likely employees would utilise it, and hotels would therefore have to hire extra staff at an added cost.

He said with no competition, the BIU can effectively make decisions about how the business is run but if there is competition, they have to be more careful about how they treat members.

Mr. Thomson made it clear that he was not "union bashing'' and said he had great respect for the early pioneers of workers rights such as Dr. E.F. Gordon and Dr. Barbara Ball, but the pendulum had swung too far in the seventies and eighties, and it was time it came back to middle ground.

Mr. Thomson said of workers rights depleting hotel profits: "we need to get the Union to understand if it is not profitable, it will close,'' and he said the system as it now stands is destined to fail.

In March 1997, Mr. Thomson was involved in an Island-wide three-day strike which crippled bus, ferry, and garbage collection services.

The row began when Mr. Thomson took over Hamilton Val-Cleaners and Paget Dry Cleaners. The two shops had been unionised, but employees had been laid off before he bought the fixtures and fittings.

He later re-employed the former staff, but included a no collective bargaining agreement clause.

The disruption began when dock workers refused to handle cargo claimed to be associated with Mr. Thomson's businesses -- a claim later denied -- and the dispute spread.