On May 29, Government will sit down with employers and labour to thrash out their differences over proposed labour legislation. The legislation will give all non-management workers the right to union recognition by their employers.

Under current legislation workers may vote to form a union, but the employer is under no legal obligation to recognise it. Labour Minister Quinton Edness said the proposed bill is a response to the refusal by many employers to formally recognise unions under the voluntary system.

"The voluntary system is not working,'' he said.

Mr. Edness said that management workers will still have the right to form unions under the voluntary system. The issue has been a sticking point with The Bermuda Industrial Union, the Bermuda Public Services Association, the Electricity Supply Union and the Bermuda Union of Teachers, which all want management workers included in the new amendment.

Also appearing before the minister on May 29 as part of the Labour Advisory Council will be the Bermuda Fire Services Association and the Musicians' Union. Employers will be represented by the Bermuda Hotel Association, and the Bermuda Employers' Council, the latter representing 327 companies employing 23,000 workers, or two thirds of the local workforce.

The Royal Gazette has obtained a copy of the fifth draft of The Trade Union Amendment Act 1997, the proposed bill.

The amendment act makes the labour relations officer the main player in the process of certification and de-certification. A union claiming to have the backing of at least 35 percent of the workmen in a bargaining unit, defined as a group of two or more "non-management persons'', must first apply to the labour relations officer for certification. If there is no union certified, an application may be made at any time.

The employer will have 14 days to respond to the application for certification. It's then up to the labour relations officer to conduct a workplace poll and if more than 50 percent want a union, he grants certification.

The officer can only refuse certification when less than 50 percent of workers support the union, or if he is not satisfied that the proposed form of bargaining unit is the appropriate one.

Once a union is certified, the employer is compelled under the law to recognise it. "Where a union has obtained certification in respect of a bargaining unit and the certification remains in force, the employer shall deal with that union accordingly; and the union and the employer shall, subject to this Part, in good faith treat and enter into negotiations with each other for the purposes of collective bargaining.'' A key section also compels an employer to give notice to the labour relations officer and the union if he plans on closing up the business. The section addresses a key labour issue, which came to the fore earlier this year when Mailboxes Unlimited co-owner Stephen Thomson closed two drycleaners he recently purchased after three days of strikes over a dispute about union recognition.

Under the proposed legislation the employer will now be required to state "reasons why the undertaking is being discontinued.'' No form of further action by Government is stated in draft bill.

Workers will also have to ability to apply for de-certification of a union, under the proposed legislation. The applicant, a union worker, just has to show proof that 35 percent of the members want out of the bargaining unit. The labour relations officer will then hold a vote and if more than 50 percent vote in favour of de-certification, it is granted.

Appeals against labour relations officers' decisions are to be made to the labour minister who then refers the issue to a three-member Tribunal, which will have the final decision.