The head of the Bermuda Industrial Union threatened to go after diffident hotel owners "with a vengeance'' yesterday if they did not sign a recently negotiated labour agreement.

BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP cited two properties in particular -- Stonington Beach and The Reefs -- as the major targets of his campaign.

Last month, the BIU joined seven of the largest members of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda in ratifying the first signed labour agreement since 1988, but 12 other properties, which resigned from the HEB in June, have refused to take part in the deal.

Those hotels -- known informally as the "small properties'' faction -- pulled out during the negotiation of the 55-page agreement over fears that any settlement they might reach with the BIU would be imposed on them in perpetuity. But yesterday, Mr. Simmons reiterated that the breakaway by the small hotels has done considerable harm to industrial relations in Bermuda, pointing out that Stonington Beach and The Reefs had a particular responsibility to remedy the situation.

As the "people's hotel,'' Mr. Simmons told The Royal Gazette , Government-operated Stonington "has no legal right to protest this agreement,'' while The Reefs, which is owned and operated by Tourism Minister David Dodwell, should be setting "a better example'' in terms of labour-management relations.

"The Minister, who must be looking to establishing a good, strong tourism industry in Bermuda, has an obligation to see that an agreement that has been legally negotiated and arbitrated be accepted by the hotels.'' "He must be,'' Mr. Simmons added, "a moral example in the dispute, not a protester.'' In his self-proclaimed campaign to get the dissenting hotels to comply with the agreement, which maps out labour-management relations for the next three years, the BIU president said that he would employ some moral persuasion to achieve the desired result.

"I am hoping that this public statement will jolt them (the small properties) into reality,'' Mr. Simmons told The Gazette .

"If they don't, we will be coming after them -- possibly with a vengeance.'' Yesterday, Mr. Dodwell said he was unable as a Government Minister to comment on the union leader's threat, but Mr. William Mulder, the general manager of Stonington Beach, said that Mr. Simmons fully understood the small hotels' objections.

"With the exception of the clause (that would cement the negotiated settlements) in perpetuity, we have no problem with the contractual arrangements,'' Mr. Mulder said. "That (the clause) seems to be the only stumbling block. And I believe we are acting morally.'' In addition to Stonington Beach and The Reefs, the other small hotels that have rescinded their membership in the HEB include Ariel Sands, Coral Beach, Horizons and Cottages, Lantana, Newstead, Palmetto Bay, Pompano Beach, Rosedon, the St. George's Club and Waterloo House.

The six hotels that signed the agreement with the BIU in November were the Princess Hotel, the Southampton Princess, Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, Harmony Hall, Sonesta Beach, the Belmont Hotel and Elbow Beach.