the Grotto Bay Hotel and the Bermuda Industrial Union, Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said yesterday.

And the hotel may be sent back to the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board if Government determines there are grounds for two grievances raised by the union yesterday.

Mr. Pearman met with BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP and two representatives of the hotel's workers yesterday and had a full and frank discussion, he said.

He said the union's demand that Government seek enforcement of the board's ruling that the hotel adhere to the BIU-Hotel Employers of Bermuda contract was discussed. Under the order, the hotel would have to restore the mandatory gratuity and cut the higher basic wage it has been paying since January 1.

The hotel has refused to adhere to the ruling and claims its employees are earning more now than they did under the BIU contract.

Mr. Pearman said he made clear Government did not intend to set a precedent for seeking enforcement of the law. "We are facilitators, not adjudicators,'' he said.

"Mr. Simmons empathises with our position but he does not see why the union should take Grotto Bay to court. He feels that if Grotto Bay feels aggrieved, it should go to court.

"But Grotto Bay says it is not going to go to court. We have already made that proposal. But we are now taking a new approach which may achieve resolution of the broader problem.'' He would not say what the new approach was.

Mr. Pearman said he had also assured Mr. Simmons he did not leak a union letter asking Government to enforce the ruling and warning that if it did not, the union would take industrial action in other hotels.

"On that point, I believe it is unfortunate that the letter was made public because it raised the issue of industrial unrest when it need not have been.

"He and two representatives of the union met with me and raised several grievances which I have referred to the Labour Relations Officer for investigation.

"The Minister does have the power to apprehend those narrower issues and refer them back to the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board,'' he said, adding that was a possibility if there were grounds for the grievance.

Grotto Bay managing director Mr. George Robinson said he could not comment on the grievances without knowing what they were. He also said he did not know of any new approaches to resolve the dispute.

Mr. Simmons said he could not comment on the meeting, beyond saying: "We had a meeting and we went over some technical matters on Grotto Bay and he said he would look into these technical matters -- we will communicate one to one again if necessary.'' Unionised construction workers told the BIU to continue negotiations with construction companies over a new collective agreement following a divisional meeting on Thursday.

The construction workers, who are working to rule on unionised construction sites and are engaged in an overtime ban at the prison site, are due to meet next Thursday at 5 p.m. after a meeting between the union and the employers.

Their contract expired on February 28. Employers have asked for a wage freeze in the first year of the agreement and a small increase in the second.