Government has been urged to dig for deeper compensation for workers injured on the job.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess Monday night called on the Home Affairs Minister to bring payment levels "into the modern world''.

He said the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1965 had not been updated since 1970.

And the BIU boss and Progressive Labour Party MP said today's compensation level -- $170 a week -- had not been changed "for years''.

Minister Maxwell Burgess said he would review the law to see if it needed updating.

But he launched a counter attack, asking: "How much of a workman's union dues goes towards sick pay?'' Mr. Burgess added: "I can give an undertaking to have a look at the facts and see where we stand.

"If the law hasn't been updated for some time, then certainly it is something we ought to be looking at and modernising at some point.

"But the more interesting thing is: `How much of a workman's union dues goes towards sick pay'?'' Derrick Burgess hit back by saying sick pay and compensation were entirely different issues.

He added: "It is quite obvious that the Minister is confused. Sick pay is different from workers' compensation. Workers get a sick pay allowance but when they are injured on the job it is not sick pay that is applicable.

"The Minister needs to understand that these are two distinctly separate issues, so what he's said doesn't make sense. For the record, all our agreements at the Bermuda Industrial Union have provisions for sick pay, but that is not the issue here.

"We are talking about decent compensation for people who are hurt at work.'' He claimed one man in his early twenties suffered back injuries in an accident at the Pearman Watlington job site on Front Street two months ago.

Mr. Burgess added that the workman was told he needed an operation -- and could now work no more than 20 hours a week.

The Hamilton East MP said: "What concerns me most is the compensation issue.

"He is getting $170 a week because that is the Government limit. It means that if he works enough hours to earn $170 a week, he can't receive any compensation at all. If he works enough hours to earn $100 a week, he will get $70 in compensation. Yet here is a man who is limited in the number of hours he can work anyway.

"It boils down to $34 a day, which is much less after deductions. It is time Government did something to bring compensation for our workers into the modern world.'' Employers are liable to pay the compensation figure for workmen injured on the job.

Information on an employer's responsibilities is available from the Labour Relations Office on the first floor of the Government Administration Building.

Telephone inquiries can be made on 297-7821.

GOVERNMENT GVT