City of Hamilton workers staged a three-hour emergency meeting about "unresolved issues" with management yesterday — and are expected to hold another one today.

The meeting — attended by scores of staff, as well as Bermuda Industrial Union chief organiser George Scott and Corporation of Hamilton secretary Ed Benevides — began just after 1 p.m. at the Dundonald Street depot.

Workers leaving the meeting at 4 p.m. told The Royal Gazette they were angry because they were owed thousands of dollars in back pay and because overtime work was being sub-contracted to an outside company.

"We'll have another meeting tomorrow," said one man. "We are just going to sit down until we get this thing sorted out."

The Corporation employs 130 people, 100 of whom are BIU members. They gained union recognition not long after staging a two-day walkout early last year.

Mr. Scott said after yesterday's meeting: "They just had a meeting on some outstanding issues that needed to be resolved. The majority of the Corporation staff were there and we had the secretary there.

"He's heard most of the complaints. We will look to resolve what's outstanding when we meet with the management again tomorrow."

Mr. Scott added: "You can call it an emergency meeting. It was a meeting where the men and women wanted to see where the unresolved issues were lying.

"I don't see why it won't get resolved. These things come to a head from time to time. I think they want to see movement."

He would not disclose what was discussed and nor would Mr. Benevides, who is also chief operating officer at City Hall.

Mr. Benevides said: "There were a number of issues raised by the staff during the meeting. Management will continue to work closely with the union to resolve the issues. We anticipate holding another meeting later this week."

Workers said the meeting was a calm one, though one man stormed out of the yard close to the end, swearing and shouting about the Corporation treating "black people like slaves".

He returned soon afterwards.

One worker told this newspaper: "It's to do with sanitation work on an evening being sub-contracted to another company. It means we no longer get to do that overtime.

"Work that could be done by our masons and carpenters is also being sub-contracted."

Another man said: "Management has been acting up, trying to change a lot of stuff, so we wanted to set them straight.

"We put down tools this afternoon to try and rectify this situation. Tomorrow we'll see what happens after they [the union] have gone back up to City Hall."

He claimed: "This is the worst management team the Corporation has ever had.

"They gave us a bonus last year but they never gave us our back pay and they are trying to say it was all inclusive. We are still fighting to get it, thousands of dollars.

"They've also brought in contracts to do work that we have already started.

"After we have done all the hard work, they want to do the easy jobs to eliminate the overtime for us. They are really trying to upset their workers."

The chief shop steward, who would not be named, said: "It's nothing too serious. There's a few little things that we need to sort out. We are just trying to work towards a harmonious environment."

Another shop steward said: "The only thing I can tell you is that the workers are dissatisfied with management".

A torrential rainstorm flooded parts of Dundonald Street as the meeting took place, with Corporation managers having to manoeuvre trucks into place to briefly stop traffic from using the road.