Schoolchildren and members of the public have come out to praise workers at the Corporation of Hamilton following their first-ever dispute last week.

Students at Mount St. Agnes Academy took flowers, chocolates and cookies along for the 115 workers, who work out of the corporation depot on Dundonald Street, to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the City. Corporation secretary Roger Sherratt said he also received a letter of thanks from an elderly lady, who wrote to the workers after hearing about their dispute in The Royal Gazette last week.

The workers marched to the City Hall in protest of a colleague being suspended following a row with a member of the public, and complained that they were not shown respect by people on the Island.

As a result, Mr. Sherratt appealed for the public to be more considerate when corporation workers were attempting to do their jobs. Last night, the Secretary said: "It's very encouraging for these students and this lady to acknowledge what the workers do because a lot of the time their work seems to go unnoticed.

"They work every day in sometimes difficult conditions and all weathers. They have a difficult job, so it's nice to know that members of the public appreciate them. I would ask everyone to be considerate when our workers are out, and to understand and be patient while they are carrying out their duties."

About 40 corporation workers, from the sanitation, landscaping, painting and construction divisions, demonstrated last week after one of their colleagues was suspended without pay for a week after rowing with a woman in town. The workers claimed he had been sacked, then his punishment changed to a suspension, and they took exception and downed their tools to demand that he be allowed to return to work.

But yesterday, Mr. Sherratt said he had never been fired or threatened with the sack.

As a result of the suspension, the worker appealed the action, and the labour relations officer has now been brought in to settle the issue. In the meantime, the worker has been permitted to return to his job. Mr. Sherratt said last night that the labour relations officer has already started to investigate the matter, however, the secretary said he wished to make it clear that at no time was the worker fired, as claimed by the staff.

He said: "That is absolutely, categorically wrong. He was never fired and he was never told he would be fired.