Developers can rest easy after a two-day strike at Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) ended yesterday, however the local construction industry said this was just the first of many hurdles.

And the Construction Association of Bermuda said the booming industry that kept thousands of locals employed had never been as sensitive to material shortages which could lead to the termination of 3,000 jobs.

"We had a meeting and the guys are happy," BCC plant manager Clive Hook said yesterday. "Five plant staff will have jobs after January 1 but under their conditions."

Mr. Hook said BCC was now back to full steam after West End Development Company (Wedco) Chairman Lt. Col. David Burch promised the five workers jobs after the January 1 takeover.

However, some staff were still unhappy after the meeting, Mr. Hook said because Lt. Col. Burch could not guarantee the workers would still get the same wages and benefits under a new cement entity.

The new cement entity will be comprised of Wedco as the majority shareholder and international cement giant Cemex.

Cemex was mentioned in TheStreet.com in a 2001 article titled: "Doing layoffs the right way."

The website listed Cemex, along with a host of other business giants, as a company "making intelligent cuts or layoffs right now".

It said the Mexican cement manufacturer "took advantage of the Asian downturn quite aggressively and bought facilities in the Philippines and Malaysia for 50 cents on the dollar".

"They applied their digitised business design to those companies and made them much more profitable," it said. Calls were placed to Cemex in Houston yesterday however no comment was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Construction Association of Bermuda said getting the flow of cement back on yesterday was very good news.

However, Alex DeCouto said his membership was extremely concerned with recent shortages in the supply of bulk cement to Bermuda.

"Specifically, interruptions in supply, even for day, can result in an immediate slowdown across the industry," Mr. DeCouto said. "An extended period of interruption ? say a week ? can result in extended delays and job losses. The industry employs a mostly Bermudian workforce of 3,000 people, and their livelihood depends on a consistent supply of cement for various products and processes. The ramifications for our economy are far-reaching."

He added that this was one hurdle in many and the BCC takeover was going to be something the Construction Association would keep its eye on.

"The workers enjoy quite a lot of power over the whole site," he said. "When they stop working it brings us all to our knees. Between now and them setting up a whole new company there will be a thousand more hurdles to go."

He said cement was the foundation upon which the entire construction industry was built.

The first companies to feel the pinch were SAL and Bierman's as they have to stop selling and shut down as developers scrambled to make do, he said.

"The public needs to be informed how quickly things can dissipate into large scale job losses which will trickle down instantly and go through the whole economy," he said.

And a source close to the industry, who did not wish to be named, said the fact there was a strike at all was atrocious.

"It is fairly atrocious it came to that," he said. "There was a power struggle back and forth. You have got to fault the cement company for not buying a property to operate on and having to rent."

He added Government was also at fault for trying to strong-arm BCC.