Precision-Somers at the ACE building site in Bermudiana Road, Pembroke.
August 10: Precision-Somers sack workers for walking off the site at 4 p.m. in the middle of a concrete pour which is then ruined. The union claims the workers had been given permission to leave work for a union meeting at that time and that the management were trying to block attempts to organise.
August 11-September 8: Dialogue between the BIU and Precision fails to get the men reinstated. At the Labour Day rally on September 6, BIU President Derrick Burgess singles out the building industry in desperate need of unionisation to avoid exploitation of workers.
September 9: Around half of the workers at Precision-Somers go on strike. The company claims the action is illegal as it did not have a bargaining agreement with the BIU. However Labour Relations experts say the strike is not illegal.
September 10: Four other building firms at the ACE site come out in sympathy.
They are Sea-land, C and T Steel Fixtures, Southern Pan Services and SAL Concrete. Precision-Somers hints it may be prepared to back down while the BIU insists only the reinstatement of all the workers will end the dispute. The BIU and Precision-Somers disagree over the actual numbers sacked. The BIU announce an emergency meeting of union divisional leaders for September 13.
September 12: Precision-Somers says it expects the dispute to be over within the next two days.
September 13: BIU leaders announce they are to ballot members over islandwide industrial action. Precision-Somers announces it is suing the BIU.
September 14 9.30 a.m. Government announces it is setting up a Trades Disputes Tribunal to settle the dispute.
12 p.m. Hundreds of BIU workers take to the streets of Hamilton to protest the plight of the sacked Precision workers. Precision-Somers says it is suing the BIU to recover losses arising from the stoppage.
4.30 p.m. Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox explains to a press conference that a code of conduct for employers needs strenfthening after noting the unwillingness of Precision-Somers to accept the help of the Government's Labour Relations Officer.
