Cement workers at Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) continued their strike action yesterday as moves to settle the industrial dispute, promised last week by West End Development Company (Wedco) seemingly evaporated.

?The workers support the action 100 percent,? BCC plant manager Stacey Simmons said yesterday. ?We are prepared to stay out as long as it takes.?

The strike ? which has left the Island with a shortage of concrete for construction projects ? began last Thursday when the six cement plant workers at BCC downed their tools in protest of the company?s silence about their job security.

BCC?s management blamed Wedco for not telling them if their lease, which ends on December 31, 2005, would be renewed.

Late Friday afternoon, Wedco chairman, Lt. Col. David Burch announced that the quango had agreed to enter into new lease negotiations with BCC.

However, three days later, BCC said they had no communication from Wedco and cement supplies in Bermuda have pretty much run dry due to panic buying when the BCC strike news broke.

?It can all be over with in a short period of time,? Mr. Simmons said yesterday. ?All we need is for Wedco or Government to contact BCC and arrange a meeting to sit down and start a dialogue with BCC. All we need is a definitive action to be made and we will get back to work immediately.

?We feel that Wedco is looking at us as inconsequential. It?s an important issue. They might look at us like we are only six guys ? they are not looking at the big problem. BCC assists the entire construction industry that keeps thousands of Bermudians working.?

BCC?s general manager, Jim Butterfield, said management was ?hopeful?, following WEDCO?s announcement on Friday, but so far ?nothing had happened?.

He confirmed that a ?container of cement was at the docks already? but a system of cement rationing had not been put in place. ?They are giving 15 bags of cement per company until its empty,? he said. ?There are 425 bags in that container. Fifteen bags are not enough to build a dog house out of.

?We find it frustrating and sad that that?s the kind of importance given to an industry that?s so critical. The people who should want to be at the table until late at night to resolve this aren?t responding.

?We want to resolve this thing as soon as possible.?

He said BCC was willing to accept a 15-year lease but hoped for a minimum of a 21-year lease but that the issue was ?being complicated by what appears to be bold meddling?.

He said: ?They seem to want to be in a position to dictate who our shareholders should be. And ,in an effort to resolve it and although it?s unusual, we will entertain, in some fashion, the opening of shareholders to Bermudians ? locals who live here ? to broaden the shareholder base. But we won?t be dominated by a few wealthy players. We want to open up to those in the trade.

?We will be happy to do it.?

He said that WEDCO?s announcement on Friday was ?more of what they have had three years of ? ideas without foundations, suggestions not written down?.

Meanwhile Mr. Simmons said although plant workers ?had not received any communication from Wedco or Government since Friday,? they were assisting SAL and Bierman?s with the manufacture of concrete blocks.

?We at the plant recognise that they are well behind on block production and we will be giving them enough cement to make the block for each day,? he said. ?We decided to help with the block because they needed time to catch up on their backlog.?

When asked if BCC was losing money during the strike, Mr. Simmons said the issue was ?about right and wrong?.

And Mr. Butterfield said the plant staff was getting paid, but as far as the rent increase was concerned, he referred to a letter Wedco sent BCC on August 28, 2002, that suggested a rent increase of $400,000 per year. The present annual rent for the Wedco land upon which the BCC plant is built is $48,000.

?As a company with a conscience, we said no, we could not accept the new rent. In retrospect we could have said thanks we accept the increase and add the rent increase onto the price of cement? But if we jack up the price of cement, it?s not the right thing to do to the trade.?