Striking Belco workers staged a major walkout yesterday after five cleaning staff were made redundant.

The axed workers said they were given their marching orders at 10 a.m. ? and by noon nearly 100 angry union members had downed tools and gathered outside Belco headquarters.

The large group then marched through the city down Front Street to Government offices on Parliament Street to lobby Labour Minister Randy Horton, before top-level talks swung into action between Government officials, Belco chiefs and union leaders.

This meeting ended shortly after 10 p.m. last night, resulting in a "tentative agreement" between between management and workers that will see workers return to work as normal today. A contingency plan had been drawn up in case no agreement was reached.

Belco said the strike ? which did not effect power supplies ? was illegal and last night confirmed it had taken legal action to end it.

Staff involved in the industrial unrest said the five cleaning jobs had been "out-sourced" to an outside company.

Workers said the power giant planned the same move with four garage staff if they refused to work a revamped shift system, and raised fears about further job cuts if these changes were mirrored in other departments and more experienced employees were laid off.

Donnavon Furbert, who had worked at Belco for nearly 20 years, was one of the cleaners left reeling from the shock redundancy news.

He said he was escorted to his locker, given a "pitiful" payoff, which saw his pension and benefits severed, before being told to give up his work pass and collect his final cheque.

The five workers laid off had worked at Belco for between 15 to 25 years, and Mr. Furbert said the cleaning team played an important safety role and were first to be called to oil spills. Recent work included containing an oil pool after the 2005 blaze at Belco triggered an Island-wide blackout, helping prevent a nearby canal getting contaminated.

"The power plant is a leaky place," said the 35-year-old, who admitted he was shocked by the abrupt nature of his dismissal after years of service. "We make the company look good. It's not just about cleaning windows ? the engines leak like water."

After marching to Parliament Street, workers returned to Belco HQ yesterday and maintained a three-hour vigil in the car park as talks involving labour relation officials took place inside.

Mr. Furbert said the walkout was a "wonderful sign of solidarity" from staff across several departments, including administration, repairs and maintenance.

Ray Bean, of the Electricity Supply Trade Union, said union members apart from switchboard and staff and men manning Belco's generating engines were involved in the walk-out.

But he warned that if the union did not feel talks were going well the engine workers could join the strike ? raising the prospect of widespread power blackouts across the Island.

"We will be out here as long as it takes," said Mr. Bean.

One Belco worker, who asked not to be named, told that staff were concerned about further out-sourcing of jobs at the company, which employs 350-plus people.

Commenting on the five redundancies he said: "They just can't do this to people with so much experience. If you lose your job, especially in Bermuda, where do you go?

"This has an impact on a whole family, not just one person.

"That's why we are all out here ? we can't let this kind of thing happen."

Linda Smith, vice president for external relations and corporate communications, last night confirmed an injunction was in the process of being served on the union to stop the strike.

She said that because Belco was an essential service, 21 days' notice had to be given to the Labour Relations Office. "That did not take place", she added. "The strike is illegal."

Mrs. Smith confirmed that five cleaning staff were made redundant yesterday after the company looked to reduce costs and found the work could be done more cheaply by an outside company.

Belco confirmed it was also investigating costs of outsourcing garage operations, but was still working with the union on a new shift structure to make that part of the business "more competitive".

Raising the possibility of further job cuts in the future, she added: "We are looking throughout the organisation to areas where efficiencies can be made and to move to a more efficient regime.

"We can't continue to have costs escalating. Our costs are high and customers have, in the last year-and-a-half, felt the increased cost of fuel."

Mrs. Smith said she could not comment on safety concerns as they were not on the discussion table with the union at this stage.

Yesterday's industrial unrest follows a long-running wrangle between Belco management and the union over wages and job re-classification.

The issue, which went into arbitration, was resolved and the threat of strike action ended when staff voted in favour of an agreement during a meeting at the end of January.