made redundant after the hotel chain walked away from the Island for good.

But union chiefs vowed to keep up the pressure on the hotel resort until a solution is reached.

Labour Minister Quinton Edness said that there is no legal redress possible because the management are now off the Island and not subject to the laws of Bermuda. Consequently he admitted that he was at a loss about what to do.

"I have spoken to Club Med's lawyer who is based in New York and he has told me that senior management have refused to do anything further.

"After our long conversation I was not pleased with what he told me because I believe those staff have been injured at least from a moral point of view, since they had no signed agreement.'' Mr. Edness said that it is customary for a local business to give severance and redundancy pay to its affected staff.

However he admitted that was just a local custom and was not binding on Club Med.

"They have refused to do that,'' he added. "They gave the workers a month's pay and vacation pay and their regular pay. I think that is disgraceful but I have no legal jurisdiction over them because they are now outside of Bermuda.'' Mr. Burgess said that he had spoken to Mr. Edness but was not satisfied that all avenues had been exhausted.

He said that the workers were owed a sizable amount of money and he would be using his offices to get them justice.

The industry standard is four weeks' pay in lieu of notice -- plus a severance deal of two weeks' pay per year up to 10 years and three weeks' pay after 10 years, up to a maximum of a year's salary.

The eleven -- care taking and maintenance staff at the closed resort most of whom have worked for Club Med since the mid-1980s -- were told over a week ago they were no longer needed and given just four weeks' pay in lieu of notice.

On hearing this Mr. Burgess said that the workers were very disappointed and upset because someone just turned up and told them they didn't have a job.

The St. George's hotel has been out of business since 1988. Various ideas have been floated to bring the 340-bed hotel back into the market, including one plan for Club Med to open a limited number of rooms or operating it as a time-share.

But Minister of Tourism David Dodwell said in September that there were two suitors waiting in the wings to take over the hotel, with one being a global player in the hospitality industry.

Agents for both parties have toured the Club Med site near Fort St. Catherine, which is in need of a multi-million dollar refit, although Mr. Dodwell said both firms were "happy with the core of the building.'' TOURISM TOU