Last week's labour unrest occurred almost 40 years to the day after the labour action on the docks turned the Bermuda Industrial Union from an idea into reality.

It was on September 16, 1959 that Bermuda's longshoremen marched to the number one shed on Front Street protesting working conditions and naming the Bermuda Industrial Union as their bargaining agent.

In a recent interview, Warrington Zuill, vice-president of the longshoreman's division of the BIU at that time, pointed out "until we longshoremen organised as a division at the beginning of that summer, the BIU was a registered organisation with no members.

"September 16, 1959 was a day in history for Bermuda.'' he said. "It was a rough day, but was not a strike. It was a march for recognition.'' The protesters met riot squad Police when they reached the Number One Shed on Front Street, and were ordered to disband as they had no permit to demonstrate.

The determined men went to the Hamilton Police Station to procure a permit but were told that they had already marched and that a permit after-the-fact was useless.

The Royal Gazette reported the tensions of the day. The description of the scene outside the Hamilton Police station illustrates how committed the dock workers were to their cause.

`At 10.35 a.m., the demonstrators suddenly turned up in front of Hamilton Police Station armed with some cases with very serious weapons. Most of the weapons were wooden clubs and lengths of pipe of heavy reinforcing rod. But some of the men were also carrying cudgels wrapped with barbed wire or fixed with nails, bailing hooks and other pieces of sharp or hooked metal. One man was seen brandishing a large meat cleaver, one a machete wrapped in newspaper, another was seen with a sword.' According to Mr. Zuill, the decision to protest on Sepetember 16 was carefully thought out.

"The 16th was on a Wednesday,'' he said "and that was the day the Queen of Bermuda (which carried passengers and cargo) would deliver Bermuda's mail to the US.

"We figured if we could hold up the mail we would get more recognition.'' he continued. "Our talks with the two stevedores of the day, AW West and George Holmes, had broken down and we felt the recognition would help our efforts to resume the meetings.'' "We worked the Tuesday night,'' Mr. Zuill remembered, "but refused to work on the Wednesday morning.

"About 40 of us left the BIU headquarters on Dondonald Street but along the way several others joined the bandwagon,'' he added. "When we arrived at the Number One Shed the Bermuda Militia, the Police and a barricade of containers prevented us from going onto the actual dock.

"Violence was averted on that day and there were no arrests.'' said Mr.

Zuill, "After the demonstration outside the Police station we marched back to headquarters had a short discussion ,then left.'' The stevedores had agreed the day before the protest for the matter to be submitted to arbitration or a board of inquiry under the Labour Disputes Arbitration and Inquiry Act 1946.

In fact the matter was hammered out between the parties over the ensuing days and a mutual agreement reached on September 20 1959.

Asked of the similarities of the events of recent days with those of 40 years ago, Mr. Zuill said: "It goes to show you how over the years of trade unionism it is surprising how things coincide with past events.'' SHIPPING SHI