the Bermuda Industrial Union.

The warning came from one of the Island's top business leaders -- Bermuda Commercial Bank managing director Mr. Dick Francis.

Mr. Francis said that when management criticised the BIU, they tended to have the union leadership in mind. But the BIU was made up of 6,000 members - friends, neighbours and colleagues of managers.

"Whenever we knock the BIU, maybe we should think of the 6,000 people we work with,'' he said. "It would be a great pity if some sort of social rift developed because we kept knocking the BIU.'' Speaking to Hamilton Rotary at the Hamilton Princess, Mr. Francis agreed there was scope on the labour relations scene for secret ballots or the "tidying up'' arbitration laws.

But management needed to look at their own practices too -- such as whether their companies had staff consultative committees where workers could formally make their voices heard.

Mr. Francis also used the speech to "set the story straight'' on his company, the smallest of Bermuda's three banks.

"We're not controlled by the BIU,'' he said. The union was not a major shareholder, holding only 1.6 percent of shares, and was not on the board. But the union asked "penetrating and intelligent'' questions at meetings, and was a good client.

He also denied the bank was in breach of its licence by scaling down its retail business. And he said Barclays Bank, which is looking to sell its shares in the company, was not in an "unseemly haste to ditch Bermuda and run''. Barclays were looking for not only the right price but the right buyer.

Mr. Francis said Bermuda had an "incredible'' reputation for the stability and quality of its banks, and for being a great international business centre.

But he urged the Island to look at the possibility of going over to a US dollar economy.

He described how Copmmercial Bank, founded in 1970, had decided to concentrate on international corporate business -- and how it had cut staff from 145 to 45 in three-and-a-half years.

He said the cuts had been traumatic for workers, but had been made sensitively. "All of our business operates profitably,'' he said.

"We will never strive to be as big as the other two banks. We will just strive to be the best in the eyes of our clients, our shareholders and ourselves.'' Mr. Francis, managing director of the bank, also revealed he would be leaving when Barclays pulled out.