Some food supplies are in danger of going off as dock workers continued to strike yesterday - leaving hundreds of cargo containers untouched.

About 50 workers at Stevedoring Services Ltd. failed to turn into work again and management were unsure last night as to whether any progress would be made today.

However, the five containers of slate, ordered by SAL Building Supplies following Hurricane Fabian, were taken off the Somers Isles cargo vessel on Wednesday night.

Yesterday, SAL was attempting to unload and count the material as quickly as possible so it could be fully distributed to builders by the close of today.

But Stevedoring president Bruce Lines said although the ship was fully discharged now, he had no idea when the containers on the dock would be dealt with.

"We have not been up and running at all today," said Mr. Lines last night.

"The workers have not returned and we have no idea at this point when they will. I do know we have approximately 750 containers on the docks - some are full and some are empty.

"Some of the food stuffs down here have a very good chance of suffering. We are operating in a vacuum right now."

Only about 20 percent of the dock workers turned out yesterday.

The rest stayed away again. They finished mid-day through Tuesday, came back on on Wednesday afternoon to unload the ship, and failed to show again yesterday.

Last night, Mr. Lines said the docks closed as usual at 4.30 p.m. as he was not expecting the workers to arrive last night, and, although the strike action was called off just before 7 p.m. last night, there was no guarantee that the dock workers would show up today.

However, Mr. Lines said he was hopeful, once he heard the strike was over.

"I'm optimistic that they will come back on Friday," he said.

"Especially knowing that the majority of the men probably wanted to come back earlier."

However, he said the docks were 30 containers away from being at capacity, and he said there would be a backlog of work during the next week.

He said the combination of the Labour Day holiday, Hurricane Fabian and the strike had created a backlog of containers at the port, and he urged people on the Island to collect their freight as quickly as possible to create space.

He added: "The Bermuda Islander container ship is due in on Friday morning and she will have to sit and wait a while until we have the empty containers back on the Somers Isles and we make room to work.

"Then we have the Oleander coming in on Monday. By the end of next week, we might have caught up. So the faster people co-operate in getting goods off the dock, the faster we will be back to normal."

But Mr. Lines said all attempts would be made to catch up on lost time.

He added: "If possible, we will work this weekend. We will do all we can to catch up. We just need the labour to do it."

The dock workers broke the law in striking and will not be paid for the hours they were away from work.

As an essential service, the dockers must, by law, give 21 days notice of any strike action they plan to take.

However, union president Derrick Burgess said on Wednesday that the BIU had "bent over backwards" to try and resolve the dispute.

He said workers had agreed to unload the slate from the container ship on Wednesday, even though slate was not listed as an essential item.

But yesterday, Mr. Lines said the union leader was wrong. He said every service provided at the docks was classed as an essential service, as stated by the Privy Council last summer - the highest court for British territories to answer to.

The Privy Council ruling about a separate issue between Stevedoring and the union stated that any "industrial action in an essential service is unlawful except in circumstances which both sides accept do not apply. "Essential services are specified in the First Schedule and include port and dock services, including pilotage, tug and line boat operation (not connected with cruise ships)."

Mr. Lines said: "The Privy Council ruling we got last year was very specific in saying that every service on the docks was essential.

"That includes slate, and everything else."

Brian Hollis, of SAL Building Supplies, said the slate was delivered at the yard yesterday morning, but it was taking some time to unload and count.

"The trucks will start coming this (Thurs) afternoon to pick it up, but it will take between this afternoon and the end of Friday for people to get the slate they ordered," he said yesterday.

"We have had a two-day delay because of the strike. The truckers should have picked the slate up earlier this week - and now it's the weekend."