Hundreds of nurses and allied workers have been called to an emergency meeting next week to discuss the latest offer of improved pay and conditions.

General secretary of the Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU) Ed Ball said the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) had put an offer on the table, which now had to be put to its 600 hospital division members.

They will meet next Tuesday at 5.15 p.m. at the union office on Cedar Avenue to discuss what next steps should be taken.

The Royal Gazette reported earlier this month how a 21-day strike notice had been filed, giving the two sides until September 26 to sort out the dispute.

If they fail to agree on new salaries and conditions in that time, it is likely that Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister will force them to go to independent arbitration, whose decision will be binding.

As an essential service, it is likely that both sides will try to avoid strike action.

Staff from both King Edward VII Memorial and St. Brendan's hospitals have claimed that the board has reneged on verbal promises to improve pay and working conditions, which they say were made to them more than a year ago.

It is understood that nurses are upset they have been working without a collective bargaining agreement for 11 months.

Union president Nigel Pemberton said last night that the meeting next Tuesday was for members to consider the offer and decide on the next step.

He said: “They will probably not end up going on strike. It will go through arbitration.

“The union does not want to do anything like that (strike). That's why we are still talking. There is still time before the actual strike notice runs out.”

As hospital staff are considered an essential service, the union is barred from discussing details of the dispute once strike notice has been filed.

But one nurse told The Royal Gazette earlier this month: “It boils down to a lack of respect from management from both hospitals and we say ‘enough is enough.'

“This is the message we are sending. We've been working without a contract for a year and that's not on.”

The Hospitals Board has repeatedly come under fire from hospital staff during the past two years over pay and conditions, which they said were far lower than other countries.

In February of last year, it was announced that nurses had agreed new terms with BHB in which a ten-year bonus was returned, guest workers were given pension benefits, and the Continuous Learning Plan, which appraises work performance, was not linked to salary increases.

But the dispute flared up in April last year again, when nurses claimed they were not given the package they believed they had agreed to.

The nurses said they thought they had agreed to a two pay scale increase from April, but BHB said it thought the two increases should be one year apart.

In May of last year, strike action was again averted after the BPSU members voted to accept an improved package “in the spirit of true compromise” after the board agreed to pay the two increases in one package.

Mr. Ball said at the time that the agreement had been reached under duress and was on condition that meaningful discussions would be held in the future on pay and conditions.

He said at the time: “We have accepted that the BHB has said it has no money; therefore, while it finds funds, we are not willing to risk any potential harm to patients.”