Employers not told how to sign up -- BEC By Mairi Mallon With only two weeks left for employers to register with the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality, managers still have not received any information about how to sign up to the scheme.

According to Bermuda Employer's Council's executive director, Malcolm Dixon, a "considerable number'' of employers had contacted his office after an article on the new race law appeared in The Royal Gazette yesterday.

The employers were worried because they had not received any information on what they needed to do nor on how to register with CURE.

Mr. Dixon said: "The Bermuda Employer's Council has received a considerable number of inquiries from employers following the Press statement in The Royal Gazette of January 24 by the Hon. Terry Lister, Minister of Development, Opportunity and Government Services, on the need for employers with over ten employees to register with CURE prior to February 4, 2000.

"The reason for the inquiries is that with only two weeks to registration employers have not received any information on how they should proceed, or what they have to do in order to register.'' Mr. Dixon said he wanted to reassure his members that information packs were sent out yesterday to companies with ten or more employees by the Government.

Mr. Dixon added that the registration form is a single sheet that he believed will not be a difficult document to fill out.

Employers not told how to sign up -- BEC He said: "The BEC has received a copy of the employers registration form which is a single sheet requesting straightforward information such as the business name, address, contact name, telephone and fax etc.

"Employers need to know the form will only take a few minutes to complete and return to CURE before the February 4 deadline.'' The new Commission for Unity and Racial Equality Act, which is designed to promote racial equality and remove racial discrimination in the workplace, came into effect last Friday. Minister of Development, Opportunity and Government Services Terry Lister revealed that employers had just two weeks to sign up -- or face fines of up to $1,000.

The Act affects all companies that have more than ten employees -- over 500 companies on the Island. Employers will now have to take records of what kind of racial mix the company has in the work place. This will mean that they will have to fill in comprehensive forms about the ethnic make-up of their employees and submit them every year.

Recruitment, training, promotion and dismissals will now be put under the microscope and companies will have to prove that they are striving for racial equality in the workplace.

Mr. Lister added that the first monitoring of businesses would start on March 1, 2000, and that businesses would have to register with CURE by February 4, 2000.

Mr. Lister said over time they will be able to analyse the flow of work force by race from entry into a particular business, progression up through the ranks, and finally departure from the business.

"These statistics will be vital in assisting us to achieve our goal -- to ensure that the Bermuda work force at all its levels reflects the racial demographics of Bermuda,'' he said.

Currently Bermuda is made up racially of 60 percent black, 30 percent white and ten percent other races. But Mr. Lister has consistently denied CURE will mean racial quotas for businesses. The Minister also revealed that an advertising campaign was due to begin this week to help explain the initiative.