their relationship for the sake of the hotel industry and Bermudians.

BIU hotel division president Mr. Herbert Bascome yesterday stressed the point before the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board.

The Southampton Princess chief shop steward, who was the union's first witness, told the board about the deteriorating relationship between the HEB and the union.

Giving examples of efforts by unionised staff at his hotel to combat absentee problems and increase productivity, Mr. Bascome insisted they were willing to work with management.

He said while he knew of no cases of sick-leave abuse, shop stewards at the hotel were concerned about sick leave.

Noting that the unionised workers at the hotel do not have a comprehensive medical insurance plan which covers doctors' office visits or doctors' visits to their home, Mr. Bascome said some employees stay home because they cannot afford to go to the doctor.

He said staff volunteered to pay more for a major medical insurance plan after Southampton Princess general manager Mr. Eric Brooks said the plan -- recommended in the Hobgood Award -- would be too expensive.

Mr. Bascome said unionised employees also requested a day care centre on the property because a staff survey showed that some employees called in sick when they needed to look after their children.

He said a day care centre would take care of employees' child care problems and "eliminate some of those absentees''.

Mr. Bascome said Mr. Brooks promised to look into facilities available for such a centre.

He also complained that management ignored the hotel's 750 unionised workers' rejection of the Hobgood Award which recommended, among other things, a gratuity system whereby hotels could keep some of the gratuities charged to guests.

"I would like to see harmony in all hotels,'' the veteran hotel shop steward said, "because when you sell Southampton Princess, you do not sell it by itself. You sell Southampton Princess and Bermuda.'' "We've got to get serious in this room and improve our relationship. We've got to move forward,'' he stressed.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Simmons pointed out there were several differences between hotel financial reports which took about a year to prepare and the summary financial report which was completed in three months and shows hotels lost more than $17 million last year.

He noted that one hotel's expenses for 1990 differed by $1.7 million.

"It's something strange going on here somewhere,'' he said.

"If you're suggesting the books have been cooked, we have not seen any evidence of that,'' said HEB chief accountant Mr. David Lines.

He promised to bring a memo explaining any differences in the figures when the hearing resumes in November, after today's adjournment.