row over unionisation after the BIU ordered an illegal overtime ban last weekend.

Labour Minister Paula Cox has ordered the two parties into compulsory arbitration but said she hoped the two sides would sort it out before Government got involved on Friday. She said the BIU had broken their collective agreement after they banned scheduled overtime last weekend.

But insiders believe the BIU is set to continue it's protest this weekend.

It's thought the BIU had requested that the Longshoremen division represent office workers at Stevedoring.

An insider said: "A tribunal agreed this but the company said they wanted a secret ballot to find out if office workers wanted to belong to a trade union.

So they had an overtime ban on Sunday and Monday.'' Ms. Cox said she didn't want to discuss the details.

She said: "There are no angels or devils in this dispute. There were issues which caused an exacerbation of the situation. The parties didn't demonstrate they were prepared to resolve the dispute themselves.'' Yesterday BIU First President Chris Furbert, who is standing in for BIU leader Derrick Burgess, was reluctant to talk about the dispute. Asked if there was an overtime ban he said: "I don't know anything about that. As far as I know everything is fine.'' But he added: "We were in consultation yesterday and today talking about issues affecting office staff -- but I can't say anything more. Tomorrow we are sitting down with a lawyer.'' UNIONS UNS