Bermuda Employers' Council president Eddie Saints has called on employers and Government not to pay workers involved in last week's three-day general strike.

He said the strike by Bermuda Industrial Union workers in support of sacked workers at CableVision had been badly timed and illegal. He said current legislation had sufficient teeth and urged Government and employers to hold firm and not pay strikers for time lost.

“Our recommendation is not to pay these guys. It's deplorable what happened, totally unnecessary and should have been handled in a different way.”

He said BTC had lost a lot of their workers to the strike.

Government invoked the Trade Disputes Act which made further action illegal on Wednesday but the dispute carried on for another day. Government were also about to push for an injunction to force workers in trades deemed essential under the Labour Relations Act, such as postal workers and longshoremen, to return to work.

Meanwhile, Opposition labour spokesman Maxwell Burgess of the United Bermuda Party has called for a board of inquiry into the labour problems at CableVision. Mr. Burgess suggested a board of inquiry to examine the constant conflict at CableVision although this option has already been rejected by one of the parties in the dispute.

“A board of inquiry maybe helpful and serve as a catalyst to resolve what appears to be not good industrial relations,” said Mr. Burgess, shadow minister for labour.

Last week's action followed three years of disputes, which also boiled over into strikes and sick outs. Mr. Burgess said the board of inquiry, which would have powers to call witnesses, would help get at the issues in what has become a very personalised dispute, although he conceded good labour practice was about interpersonal skills.

During the dispute the BIU called for CableVision general manager Jeremy Elmas to be booted off the Island while union leader Derrick Burgess blamed the company's lawyer Alan Dunch for holding up talks.

The company pointed out decisions were taken by the board and managers and not Mr. Elmas. “You can put all the laws on the books but industrial relations is about humans,” said Mr. Burgess.

“If people are sufficiently aggrieved how long are you going to tell them to take it when they think they are being robbed?”

But Mr. Saints said a board of inquiry would be too heavy handed. He admitted the BIU and CableVision had a track record but said their dispute should be handled by labour relations officers. He said Labour Minister Randy Horton had demonstrated leadership during the dispute and was trying to work with both parties.

Mr. Horton has called for a review of the legislation after the latest in a round of labour disputes. But Mr. Burgess said the current legislation was probably good enough. “But there is no substitute for good industrial relations and we ought to be looking at how we build and encourage good industrial relations.”

He chided the union for spreading the action beyond CableVision as Bermuda struggled to clear up after Hurricane Fabian. “The community had suffered tremendously during Fabian in the view of the stress it put them under, it pushed them beyond their tolerance point.”

BIU leader Derrick Burgess could not be reached for comment.