Bermuda and the Hotel Division of the Bermuda Industrial Union was yesterday ratified by union members.

The members met at union headquarters at 3 p.m. yesterday to discuss the agreement and shortly afterward BIU president Derrick Burgess told The Royal Gazette that they had agreed to it.

He declined to discuss specifics contained in the new agreement but disclosed that he did not believe that everybody was entirely happy with it owing to the difficult time the industry was facing.

"I do not want to be too specific. There has been some improvement but I don't think everyone's happy about it.

"The cost of living in Bermuda continues to go up and hotel workers' wages are low. The season is also not as long as it was and hotel workers are not as healthy as they could be.

"Because the numbers are down, they are not working as long as they did years ago. The season is now only seven months a year, not ten months like before.

There are still hard times ahead.'' The agreement is the first standard three-year agreement to be in place between the two sides since the last one expired on February 25, 1998. In the period between the agreements the two sides met regularly in a bid to hammer out a new agreement but failed to agree on a number of sticking points prompting the then-Government to step in and order binding arbitration between them.

However, before that process could take place, the two sides agreed on a one-year agreement in June and that expired February 25 of this year.

TOURISM TOU