Employees walked off the job at Otis Elevators in support of a colleague Arthur Douglas, an employee of 43 years, because he said he had not been paid by the company for the last month.

The lunch time stoppage, involving about six workers, was resolved when the company paid the money - although there is still an ongoing dispute about his pension money.

Surrounding by his colleagues in the offices of the Bermuda Industrial Union during the brief strike, Mr. Douglas said: "It's a mystery to me why I'm not getting paid."

He said his inquiries led to a run around and, at one point manager John Moran asked him if he "needed the money."

Mr. Douglas, 65, noticed some discrepancy in his pension statements in the early summer months of last year.

The company had stopped making its contributions to the scheme some years ago, he said.

"When I asked why they weren't paying. I was told it was my fault for not bringing it to the management's attention before."

He explained that management had told him they couldn't find the paperwork that established that the company would pay an equal share toward his retirement fund.

According to BIU president Derrick Burgess, the company had paid in some $18,000 but still has to pay another $70,000.

It's not clear whether the non payment of his wages is related to the dispute over the pension.

Last year, Mr. Douglas agreed to a deal which would have had him resign before his official retirement date of November 2001 and receive back his pension contributions and a "portion" of the money put in by the company.

But Otis management later asked him to stay on - which he agreed to do until this summer.

He returned to work in mid December, after a brief holiday, and hasn't received a pay cheque since.

Last night he told he told The Royal Gazette he was happy he had finally been paid his back wages and he planned to carry on working for the firm for the time being.

But he added: "I will have to see what happens and wait until the next pay cheque comes."

And he said the issue of the pension was yet to be resolved. "There is no meeting scheduled. Somebody is waiting for someone to get back to them."

Last night Mr. Moran could not be reached for comment.