Staff at Coco Reef hotel are threatening to strike after months of controversy and repeated battles with the Bermuda Industrial Union over staff issues and loss of faith in management at the hotel.

An employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told yesterday workers felt the BIU had dodged their responsibilities and were not ?sticking up for workers? rights?.

Speaking on behalf of hotel employees, she said the union was not pushing for hotel workers? rights the same way they were for the rights of postal workers.

The disgruntled employee said the hotel owed staff 39 weeks of pay, pointing out that according to the union, if a hotel does not meet its 52-week quota, the staff are ?guaranteed? to get 39 weeks of pay.

?Then we were told that we would only get 20-31 weeks of pay,? she said.

She added that in October last year the BIU general secretary Molly Burgess and representative Herbie Bascome met with hotel director, Robin Gilbert to discuss the wage issue.

?Staff were promised money by January, but it?s September now and still nothing,? she said.

Besides the wage issue, she said working conditions at the hotel were deplorable and guest workers were afraid to speak out because they felt they would lose their jobs.

?There is a shortage of linen and we have to wash and return the sheets to the beds the same day, there are no fire sprinklers and kitchen staff don?t wear hats,? she said.

When contacted yesterday, Mrs. Burgess did not want to comment. While Mr. Gilbert said the agreement at Coco Reef was that if the hotel provided ?x? number of weeks of employment throughout the year, they undertook to guarantee employment to staff.

?If the hotel is closed, the amount of weeks the hotel was open is adjusted on a pro-rata basis and in the period of February 2003/2004, we were open for only 31 weeks,? he said.

Mr. Gilbert said meetings followed with the Bermuda Industrial Union and he was surprised to hear that a member of staff would complain about this because he thought everything had been ?worked out?, adding that obviously some staff did not understand the number of weeks they were entitled to compensation ? as agreed with the union.

?No one has come to see me and I don?t understand why because I have an open-door policy,? he said.

?Honesty I am shocked to hear that they threaten to strike because the staff and have a good working relationship,? he said.

As for the situation with the hotel linen, Mr. Gilbert admitted that there were times when sheets had to be washed and put straight back on beds, but that was only because inventory showed that the amount of linen was reducing.

?I know we have to buy new linen for next year,? he said.

?But it?s no longer possible to just go out and drop another $10,000 on linen because the bed occupancy rates for the winter months does not make this a good business decision to make.?

He said they were working with what they had and he thought staff realised what the situation was.

As for the lack of fire sprinklers, Mr. Gilbert said the hotel recently passed it?s fire inspection with flying colours and he would never endanger the lives of either his guests or staff.

The lack of hats in the kitchen, he said was an ?interesting situation? and he would have to look into the matter.

?This staff member ? who complained ? is wide-ranging and so interested in the various departments in the hotel. If they are as interested as they appear to be, perhaps they would like to discuss a management position,? Mr. Gilbert said.