The Labour relations officer has been called in to investigate a series of complaints at Customs, including allegations that black officers are being denied full promotion.

Arlene Brock spent two weeks talking to various Customs officers, but The Royal Gazette has been told by a well placed source that she found no conclusive evidence of racism in the service.

Ms Brock met around 45 Customs officers at Bermuda Public Services Union headquarters in Hamilton on Thursday night to brief them on the results of her interviews and further meetings are planned to try to hammer out the problems.

The Royal Gazette understands part of the unrest stems from feelings that officers are not being promoted because of either racism, or that they are not liked.

There is also thought to be unease in some parts of the service that the Collector of Customs and her three assistants are all women.

Collector of Customs Winifred Fostine-DeSilva is white. Her three deputies are a black Bermudian and a Canadian and an Englishwoman who are both white.

There was further concern about officers not sharing information properly during investigations.

BPSA general secretary Ed Ball Jr. said yesterday: "I don't have the authority to release information unless all the parties agree to it.

"The union has been working for a number of months despite thoughts to the contrary by politicians and others.

"We should not be at liberty always to comment on things because we are working to get matters resolved.

"You cannot expect matters that have been ingrained for a number of years to be resolved overnight.

"Where there is credence to an issue, we now have the ear of all tiers of Government to try to ensure that all people in the Customs feel that the workplace is fair and that there is equality of opportunity and promotion."

The Royal Gazette was unable to contact Mrs Fostine-DeSilva for comment yesterday.