The threat of a Belco strike increased last night, as it emerged that pay talks had stalled and will now go into arbitration.

One worker told that many union members were so unhappy with the attitude of Belco managers over wage demands they were determined to call for a strike ? even though a walkout would be illegal during the arbitration period.

?Talks broke down at the end of last week,? the anonymous worker added. ?The union has called a meeting for tomorrow (Wednesday) and a lot of the membership is going to ask for strike action because of the attitude of management towards what we are asking for.?

Members of the Electricity Supply Union (ESU) have long-standing grievances over salary scales and job reclassification, which the union claims have not been addressed in more than 20 years.

Talks started in January, 2005 and around 200 of the 350-plus staff at Belco are ESU members.

A 21-day strike notice was issued by the union on January 11 and the matter was quickly referred to the Labour Relations Officers for mediation, given Belco?s role as an essential service on the Island.

But that does not appear to have broken the deadlock. And now it appears that Minister of Labour, Randy Horton, will appoint arbitrators in line with provisions in the Labour Relations Act.

Linda Smith, vice president for external relations and corporate communications at Belco, last night confirmed talks were going to arbitration. She said the last meeting on the issue was held on Friday and an agreement was not reached.

Asked about the prospect of a strike, she said: ?You will have to ask the Minister about that. It?s in the hands of Government now.?