The cement strike could be over today after West End Development Corporation (Wedco) chairman Lt. Col. David Burch said he would meet with Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) plant workers this morning.

However, a construction supplier said the Government quango made a big mistake in allowing international industry giant Cemex into the local construction scene.

Speaking on the people?s show on 1340 AM talk radio yesterday, Lt. Col. Burch said the five current BCC plant workers will be employed at the new cement entity ? made up of Cemex and Wedco ? until an interim arrangement is made.

He added that the employees need not apply for their jobs, as Wedco would approach them as it is the majority shareholder in the venture.

?It makes good sense to retain the staff that is there,? he said.

Shares of the new cement entity will be floated on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, he added, and will be available for ?taxi-drivers, disc-jockeys or Government consultants? to purchase.

Wedco and Cemex are working as fast as they can to finalise how the plant will be run after December 31 when BCC will close, he said.

As far as it being an ?up to two year? agreement, Lt. Col. Burch claimed that would be the maximum time Cemex would be permitted to operate.

?We want to get out of the cement business as soon as possible,? he said.

However, Bierman?s owner Michael Bierman said that while news of the meeting was good, Government had made a major blunder by allowing an ?aggressive monster? like Cemex to come to the Island.

Mr. Bierman confessed his interest in BCC, saying he is a shareholder, but claimed the Cemex move was foolish.

?What Government is doing to BCC is a very rotten deal,? Mr. Bierman said. ?What?s next? The biggest problem is that the Island is being set up for a take-over.?

He said Cemex had a budget bigger than Bermuda?s gross national product.

?They will run over this Island like a pencil with barely a bump,? he said. ?They (Government) have opened the door to an aggressive monster. We are all going to pay very heavily.?

He said Cemex was one of the world?s largest building materials companies and owns companies around the world which produce over 100 million cubic yards of ready mix concrete per year.

?They have allowed an aggressive monster to take control of the entire industry,? he said.

Meanwhile, Bierman?s Concrete Products was out of cement yesterday.

?We have stopped making block,? Mr. Bierman said. ?If you have no cement you can?t build.?

SAL CEO Bill Morrison was also hopeful of a positive outcome from today?s meeting and an end to the strike.

?Hopefully that will be it resolved and everything will be back to normal,? Mr. Morrison said.

SAL?s supply of bagged cement sold out on Monday and he warned his supply of ready-mix would be completely gone by today.

BCC president Jim Butterfield said he was delighted to hear about the meeting between his staff and Wedco. He said he had always given Wedco permission to approach BCC employees.

?Let?s take the mystery out of it, I had always let them know that in two months they could get a new employer,? Mr. Butterfield said.

But a source at the Bermuda Employers Council ? who did not want to be named ? stopped short yesterday at calling the strike ridiculous.

?The strike is regrettable,? he said. ?There are a lot of politics in play with this. It?s regrettable individuals working at an organisation do not have long-term job security.

?Simple communication could have resolved this.?