Protecting the security of families and relationships should be a key objective of modern trade unions, a veteran labour leader told Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) conference delegates yesterday.

Trinidadian Senator Selwyn John told his audience that unions should include maternity and paternity rights, as well as child care facilities, policies to deal with bullying and sexual harassment and pensions in their negotiations with employers.

Senator John was giving the keynote address at the opening of the BIU's conference yesterday on the theme 'Protecting Family Security'.

Families take many forms, including single parent, extended families and polygamous family units, he said.

"The nature of the family unit and how it works is constantly changing under the impact of changes in society and the speed at which we industrialise and move from a slower rural life to a more hectic commercial lifestyle will inevitably have it impact on how we organise our relationships," he said.

"And of course, although it is a difficult subject for many to address, the more open nature of 'gay and lesbian' relationships cannot be ignored. This is not a question of approving or disapproving of such relationships - many people, of course may have strong views of such relationships - but they do exist and we need to acknowledge this in our thinking."

Unemployment and low pay threaten the stability of relationships and families, by contributing to crime, substance abuse and domestic violence, he argued.

And the causes of economic disparities between and within nations also need to be tackled. "It is not just in Trinidad and Tobago that we have the obscenity of the rich and powerful driving past squatter's shacks in their new Land Rovers," the Senator said.

"We are all aware that disparities in living standards cut across our hemisphere."

He added : "If we are to challenge inequality and the poverty it produces, both within the Caribbean and the world, then we must challenge who owns our economy... But we know that these bigger political campaigns are not ones that we are going to win overnight. It is important, therefore, for us to draw up an agenda that we should be negotiating about with the employers."

On maternity rights, he said: "Unemployment and discrimination cannot be an acceptable by-product of pregnancy."

And he said women should not be denied work "just because they cannot find adequate child-minding facilities and this is a genuine issue for unions to start raising with employers."

Senator John was also concerned about "discriminatory" pension plans "which do not provide for survivors benefits and will not deal easily with nonmarried relationships of any sort."

"Having touched on questions of poverty, unemployment, the distribution of wealth and amending Collective Agreements, it can be seen very clearly that protecting the security, not just of families but relationships generally, is very much a trade union question."

Over 200 people attended the conference opening ceremony yesterday, including Premier Jennifer Smith, Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans and a number of cabinet ministers as well as Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons and Shadow Labour Minister Patricia Pamplin Gordon.

Representatives from the Island's other labour unions, and unionists from Antigua, Barbados and the Bahamas, were also in attendance.