was "expensive'' and "lunacy''.

Mr. Raymond Russell claimed hoteliers should have no problem forking out the pay rises.

"It was the union members who took the licks,'' added the Sonesta Beach bell captain.

Mr. Russell also directed his fire at Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr.

Ottiwell Simmons.

Mr. Simmons had failed to negotiate effectively during the hearings of the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board, he said.

And he claimed union members should have accepted the 1991 William Hobgood award.

But it was against hoteliers -- in particular Mr. John Jefferis, from Elbow Beach -- that Mr. Russell vented most of his anger.

Mr. Jefferis, managing director of Elbow Beach Hotel and Development Company, had described Prof. Haughton's award as "lunacy''.

"Any pay increases at this time are ludicrous, we already have the highest resort labour and ancillary costs in the world,'' he said.

Mr. John Harvey, executive vice-president of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, labelled the award "expensive'', adding: "We are losing money and this award does not take that into consideration.'' Mr. Russell, however, said the proposed three percent wage increase for 1993 was affordable.

It would cost hoteliers $250,000 -- assuming occupancy levels rose by 1.5 percent, or room rates were increased by $1.

Mr. Russell, a lapsed union member, slammed Mr. Jefferis' claim the three percent rise was "as detrimental to the hotels financial viability'' as the eight and 10 percent increases in the mid-1980s.

There had been no such wage rises in the '80s, said Mr. Russell.

And in 1991 Mr. Jefferis had frozen wages by increasing gratuities instead.

The recommended two cents per hour increase in pension contributions in 1993 was also within hoteliers' means, he said.

This would cost $10,000 for any hotel with 250 unionised employees, he claimed.

"I think Mr. Jefferis is being devious and misleading,'' he said.

Mr. Russell, who once launched his own trade union for hotel workers, said the BIU members had received the "short end of the stick''.

But he said the Haughton award was good for the Country because it should stabilise the hotel industry.