with hoteliers over tips and the signing of the new contract is not resolved.

The Bermuda Industrial Union Hotels Division yesterday gave the Labour Minister two weeks to find a resolution to the dispute.

If their grievances were not settled by then, a strike vote would be taken on March 15, BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP stated after a three-hour general meeting at union headquarters.

In the middle of the afternoon meeting, some 80 hotel workers filed out of the building and marched through town to the Labour Ministry.

They presented the Hon. J. Irving Pearman with a copy of their 1,000-signature petition against hoteliers' "pocketing'' their tips and refusing to sign the new collective bargaining agreement.

"We gave (the Minister) the petition to give him an opportunity to intervene in the dispute between the union and the Hotel Employers of Bermuda and to find a resolution,'' Mr. Simmons said.

"We gave him two weeks from (yesterday) to bring about a resolution. "Any failure on his part will result in the hotel workers taking a strike vote against all hotels in Bermuda to be effective sometime in April.'' Mr. Pearman had not been in his office to accept the petition, but it was left with his staff, Mr. Simmons said.

The hotel workers had two grounds of contention, he said.

The HEB's failure to sign the new collective agreement, was one ground, Mr.

Simmons said.

The BIU believes the Haughton Award said all 20 HEB hotels must sign the collective agreement. But the HEB wants only six to sign.

The other issue was hoteliers collecting the mandatory gratuity from guests in the name of workers, but keeping the money for themselves, Mr. Simmons claimed.

The BIU believes the Hobgood Award gave workers a mandatory gratuity increase and allowed hotels to use any amount over that increase at their own discretion.

However, the BIU contends, "This did not happen in 1992 -- we are now owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by the hoteliers.'' The BIU stated Hobgood Board member Canon James Francis "supports us 100 percent''.

The 3 p.m. meeting took place "to decide on action to force the HEB to sign the collective agreement and pay workers their 1992-plus gratuities'', Mr.

Simmons said.

It was held a week after about 30 BIU hotel shop stewards marched to HEB offices to present their petition to HEB executive director Mr. John Harvey.

Mr. Harvey said yesterday that hoteliers' position had not changed. Two Government boards had sat to hear the gratuity dispute, he said, and each reached the same decision: that they can use service charge increases to offset wage increases and operating costs through 1994.

"The HEB members are not illegally or otherwise withholding any portion of employee gratuities and any suggestion to that effect is false and counter-productive,'' Mr. Harvey stated in a fact sheet handed to union members.

On the issue of the unsigned BIU-Hotels collective bargaining agreement, Mr.

Harvey said it was his understanding it had been resolved.

The large hotels had agreed to sign it. But 13 small guest properties were refusing to do so, because under current labour laws, anyone who signs it causes their property have a relationship with the union forever, Mr. Harvey said.

Mr. Harvey said he had thought the union was willing to sign with the six major hotels.

"All we can do now is implore the union to adhere to the two boards' findings,'' Mr. Harvey said.

"Employees are encouraged to use good judgment in 1994 particularly when they are being persuaded to take action which could do irreparable damage to Bermuda's number-one industry -- tourism.'' In an earlier meeting at BIU headquarters, Sonesta Beach Hotel unionised workers aired "a number of grievances'', Mr. Simmons said, including the recent redundancies of seven housekeeping supervisors in a reorganisation of the department and a worker "suspension''.

Mr. Simmons declined to comment any further on the grievances.

The union boss was taken to task in January by Sonesta managing director Mr.

David Boyd for claiming the resort was being run by "foreign management'' and there were only "menial'' jobs left for Bermudians.

Mr. Boyd issued a lengthy list of Bermudians in top management positions at the hotel.

And he said the hotel had embarked on a training programme of five senior Bermudian staff so they could replace ex-patriate managers.

Mr. Simmons had claimed housekeeping workers were bitter over the fact foreigners seemed to have secured their jobs.

They wanted action to be taken to put an end to foreign managers' "hostile attitude towards Bermudian labour''.

Mr. Boyd said the housekeeping jobs had simply been made redundant and were now being performed by other managers at the hotel, who were responsible for a number of different tasks, including training programmes.

A further meeting with Sonesta management is planned in order to lay down the union's "formula for correcting things'', Mr. Simmons said.

Mr. Boyd was off the Island until Saturday.