This week's Island-wide walkouts have centred around the sacking of CableVision technician David Green last week.

The company claims he was conspiring to get colleagues to go slow to increase overtime pay while the union says he was fired over a joke made by someone else for which he was blamed.

The union say workers were discussing each other's output when someone jestingly suggested a particularly busy worker should slow down on repairs on lines damaged by Fabian.

Yesterday CableVision general manager Jeremy Elmas was asked if it was a joke gone wrong. He said: "I will be blunt and say I don't think that's a possibility.

"The action he took trying to decrease the output of my staff is wholly intolerable.

"We took the appropriate action to get to the bottom of the situation and we received enough information to satisfy our concerns that he did engage in the activities he's been accused of.

"I am satisfied we took the appropriate time to look into the matter."

"The company's position is there is no way that Mr. Green will take up employment with CableVision again.

"There is no longer any trust between the company and that particular employee. It's deteriorated to such a level."

Union president Derrick Union president Derrick Burgess said Mr. Green had "a record so clean you could eat off of it" during his 12 years at the company and was being groomed to be chief technician.

The union said Mr. Green was being trained by an expatriate worker who turned out to know less than he did and Mr. Elmas then asked Mr. Green to train the foreigner.

The union are also angry over back pay still owed to some employees after a wage settlement but the company argue it is not due to temporary employees.

The recent sacking of an apprentice has also angered the BIU.

Mr. Burgess said of Mr. Elmas' management style: "When a Bermudian, in his opinion, is not working up to standard they are dismissed.

"When it's a guest worker not living up to standards they want a Bermuda to train him."

Asked about accusations that Mr. Green had complained the man who was supposed to be training him knew less that he did Mr. Elmas retorted: "Smoke and mirrors."

He said the union were suddenly bringing up a lot of issues never mentioned before.

"It's convenient to do so at the present time. They are trying to get public opinion on their side. It's wholly unrelated to the current circumstances.

But Mr. Burgess said: "We have tried to talk to Mr. Elmas and said let's get this sorted out. We want to get the country back in order but he refused."

Mr. Burgess said Mr. Elmas showed total disrespect for the country, its government and its workers and the union.