Striking Bermuda Industrial Union workers are set to return to work today after Government intervened in the long-running dispute over union recognition at BAS-Serco.

Buses and ferries did not run and hundreds of workers stayed at home yesterday in a sympathy action with striking airport fire-fighters who want a collective bargaining agreement. It appeared they had got their wish yesterday after Labour Minister Terry Lister brokered hours of talks between the union and company.

He said: "We have made good progress about having a collective bargaining agreement between the two parties.

"The result is (BIU leader) Derrick Burgess has gone back to the union to discuss the situation with his men. They decided to all go back to work tomorrow, including the firefighters."

Bermuda Industrial Union leader Derrick Burgess said: "I would imagine in another two meetings we will be complete."

Earlier in the day Mr. Lister had branded the action by BIU workers other than the BAS-Serco fire fighters as illegal.

Bermuda Employers Council president Eddie Saints chided Mr. Lister for continually refusing to take action against workers who broke the law.

He said under the Trade Disputes Act workers in essential industries who took part in illegal strikes by not giving the required 21-day's notice were liable to fines and jail time. In Supreme Court the maximum is a $5,000 fine and two year's jail time while in the lower court it's $1,000 and three month's jail time.

Mr. Saints declined to say what punishment would be appropriate but he said it was time the Minister applied the law. He said: "There's teeth in the act. He needs to take a grip. We call upon him to exercise legal authority and impose the necessary course of action.

"If employers did anything like this on a regular basis there is no question about it - we would be fined.

"In these cases the unions appear to be exceptions to the law. There are far too many irregular actions and illegal actions going on."

At a midday press conference Mr. Lister said Government could go to the courts to get an injunction to force strikers involved in essential services to go back to work.

He said: "Most, if not all, of the people who are on strike fall within essential industries.

"So we have the ability to require people to go back at that point. At this stage we haven't been to court.

"At this stage we are working on the good faith of the two parties. Should that fail we'll look at other measures."

In response to Mr. Saints' comments Mr. Lister said it was useless to take decisions which could escalate the problem.

Mr. Burgess defended the action of the workers to defend their brothers. He said: "When Rosa Parks sat at the front of the bus it was an illegal action. Sometimes you have to break a bad law in order to make a good one."

He said the union had been abiding by the law but then had been prevented by Judge Philip Storr from attending an arbitration hearing on the dispute.

Mr. Burgess said: "How barbaric can that be for a judge to make such a ruling preventing a second party from attending their hearing?

"He makes a ruling to outlaw a law. You have to question the sanity. It would appear the courts are trying to embarrass the Government."

Airport General Manager James Howes said the American Airlines 7.25 a.m. flight to New York had been delayed as mass pickets tried to block the entrance to the control tower when the first air traffic controller arrived at 6.45 a.m.

He said: "After about 45 minutes delay the air traffic controller was taken in under Police escort which resulted in a slight delay."

Asked about this Mr. Lister said picketing should only be done by those who are involved in the dispute but again he said it was important to police the dispute sensitively to ensure things didn't get out of hand.

Mr. Lister said he had no figures on how many went on strike although he said a couple of hundred had picketed.

He said: "There is a considerably higher number of people who didn't go to work."

Government divisions affected included Marine and Ports, Parks, Works and Engineering and the Public Transport Board.

BTC said 160 of their workforce had stayed away but the impact on services had been minimal and customers expecting service calls were rescheduled.

Arthur Ebbin, general manager of Berkeley builders Pro-Active, said most of the 150-plus workers on the troubled school project had not worked yesterday. Stevedoring Services human resources manager Milton Scott said the majority of the 60 dockers walked off the job shortly after 8 a.m. yesterday.

CableVision was also affected by the dispute with the Church Street office closing while the Laffan Street HQ was hit with some office staff staying away.

Most field technicians stayed at home meaning minimal field work was carried out, said a company spokesperson.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said his department had put together a contingency plan to transport people if public transport remained down.

"It involves car pooling, workers in the ministry using their cars. I will make my car available. Essentially we would like to stop this. A strike every week is a little much."

He said flights had not been affected by the strike.

"Air traffic controllers are at their desks doing their work. So far we have not been threatened with any loss of air service."

Dr. Brown said any disruption of air service could affect negotiations to bring new air routes and air lines to the island.

He said airport fire fighters who were not in the union were working longer shifts to fill in.

"We came close to a problem on Sunday. We were down to a minimum number of air traffic controllers.

"We were able to locate a gentleman who was off duty and he came into alleviate the situation."