Labour unrest at a Dockyard perfumery brought production to a standstill this week, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Eleven workers at Royall Lyme (Bermuda) Limited on Ireland Island stopped work on Wednesday after a number of employees complained of feeling ill due to exposure to a glue used to bind labels to the perfume bottles.

While the company had been using a mechanised labeller with the same glue, that machine broke down a number of weeks ago and staff have since had to hand label each bottle.

"There are thousands of products without labels," said one worker, who asked not to be named for fear for her job. "We started to hand glue them but the glue is very strong and we decided to stop when the fumes became overwhelming."

Workers complained of headaches and dizziness but said when they told manager Seamus Nester of their problems they were told to do their jobs of pick up their cheques and not come back.

A Health and Safety Officer was called in who visited the company on Wednesday to investigate the staff claims.

But yesterday, officer Doris Foley told The Royal Gazette she did not find any health and safety violations and that she believed the glue to be safe.

Ms Foley said the complaints from the plant seem to emanate from personality clashes rather than health threats.

"I asked (the workers) to go through the normal process and walk me through their actions," Ms Foley said. "I basically didn't see anything wrong with the process itself."

Ms Foley said the glue and the amounts used are the same as had been the case when the automated labeller was working.

"It's the same amount of glue, if there was any odour, it would be the same. I didn't notice any smell to it at all."

And, she said she found the general conditions of the site to be "acceptable" although staff told The Royal Gazette ventilation is very poor.

Today, a Labour Affairs officer is expected to meet with staff and Mr. Nester in an effort to smooth over the labour strife and get the shop running again.

Both staff and Mr. Nester told The Royal Gazette they had suffered verbal abuse at the hands of the other as it appears working relationships have broken down substantially.

But Mr. Nester said yesterday he hoped the whole dispute could be settled amicably.

He told The Royal Gazette the glue in question is non-flammable, non-toxic and even approved for use in packaging foodstuffs.

He said he was disappointed staff had taken the disagreement so far as to contact Health and Safety and the media.

"I think I've been very fair with the girls," he said. Mr. Nester said he had recently awarded staff $100 bonuses for meeting an order as well as raises.

Mr. Nester said he'd given staff members chances in the past but his current frustrations have left him questioning whether he should move the entire operation to the United States.

"I am an ex-pat," Mr. Nester said. "I employee 12 Bermudians here. There has never been more than five people employed here in the history of this factory before. But I have 12 Bermudians, Bermudians only."

He said some staff may have been upset that 15 minutes of paid time was deducted from their recent pay cheques and that he believed only a minority of the workers wanted to continue the dispute.