An electrical retailer was forced to close its doors yesterday after more than 50 workers walked out over a disagreement over their collective bargaining agreement.

The electricians and other staff picketed the entrance to Universal Electric on Serpentine Road, Pembroke, with banners that read "workers demand respect", "we want equal rights and justice" and "management stop violating our collective agreement."

However, they refused to comment on what their complaints were.

Last night, president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) Derrick Burgess said the workers and the union had reached an impasse with the company as they renewed the collective bargaining agreement.

He said: "They (the company) want us to accept things that are not the norm, like redundancy.

"All of our agreements with redundancy are nothing less than 52 weeks pay. They are offering what is in the Employment Act and the Employment Act is not a collective bargaining agreement.

"It's a piece of legislation that's designed to protect those folks who are not in a union."

Mr. Burgess said the company was not considering making anyone redundant, but the issue had merely arisen as the union tried to negotiate a new collective agreement, adding the 52-week redundancy pay.

He added: "We are discussing the agreement at the moment. We are at a stage where we have got to impasse and the Director of Labour Larry Burgess is now involved.

"The electricians are out on strike. We will be out for as long as it takes to get an agreement. We are trying to get this thing sorted out as soon as possible."

Universal Electric last night said it had been negotiating with the union representatives since early March of this year, but had not been able to reach an agreement.

General Manager Ray Beaulne said: "While we have made offers to the union and regretfully they have been rejected, we are still hopeful this issue can be resolved.

"We are deeply disappointed that the union has chosen industrial action without prior notice over mediation and arbitration in relation to the outstanding matter of the introduction of redundancy to our collective bargaining agreement.

"We are hopeful that the union will allow us to use the systems in place for such matters.

"We also greatly value our employees and during the course of negotiations have made a number of amendments to the collective bargaining agreement in order to provide a working environment that promotes employee training and job satisfaction.

"I am disappointed that the workers felt they had to take the action they did today and not continue our discussions through mediation and arbitration."

Mr. Beaulne apologised to customers for any inconvenience and assured them that the company was making best efforts to resolve the outstanding concerns.

He added: "We are currently making alternative plans for the provision of services to our customers.

"While it is hopeful we will continue with operations in the very near future, we wish to assure our customers that we will not compromise our high standards of services."