picketing at the airport and Hamilton docks.

The action would include bus drivers, ferry and other Marine and Ports Department workers, unionised taxi drivers, garbage collectors, garage workers, truckers and Department of Works truck drivers.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP said these workers, already on an overtime ban and work-to-rule, have been asked to picket the airport along with airport workers, who walked out on Wednesday.

Dock workers, who also walked out on Wednesday, will picket the docks.

The object, said Mr. Simmons, is to force Bermuda Forwarders to rehire 15 truckers who lost their jobs last October. "The best bet for the community is that we all get together and have these men reinstated, so we can get this thing finished before it goes too far,'' he said.

Both Bermuda Aviation Services and Stevedoring Services have complained the action is illegal because the original dispute did not involve them.

Yesterday, BAS told the BIU that airport workers will lose their jobs if they aren't back by Saturday. Stevedoring Services told dockers they weren't getting paid while the walkout lasted, and reminded them their union leaders were.

Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan and Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade each asked those involved to put the well-being of the Island before their own interests.

"What is taking place can have a long-term detrimental effect on the economy of Bermuda and the social fibre of Bermuda,'' Sir John said, "because it means our revenues can be further affected and things we are planning to do cannot be done.'' Two cabinet meetings were held to discuss the issue yesterday but no clear solutions emerged. "There's no way you can wave a magic wand and make this thing go away,'' Sir John said. "...I would ask that both parties reconsider their positions and try to determine where they can make a compromise.'' Mr. Wade and three Shadow Cabinet members yesterday met all parties except Stevedoring Services, who they hope to meet today.

"We stressed the impact that further escalation could have on Bermuda as a whole,'' he said, "and we made it very clear to them that their private vested interests must not take precedence over the national interest.'' The harshest words came from the National Liberal Party.

"What comes first -- Bermuda or the BIU?'' demanded NLP chairman Mr. Graeme Outerbridge. "If Government isn't going to do something, it might as well offer the Cabinet Building to the BIU and let Otti and his colleagues move in.'' The BIU ignored the Hobgood hotel contract award, he said, and then caused disruption when Bermuda Forwarders ignored a non-binding inquiry. "The BIU calls the Bermuda Forwarders law-breakers. What are they then? They are playing Russian roulette with Bermuda's future.'' The conflict stems from an incident last September, when a Bermuda Forwarders shop steward was fired and 15 truckers walked off their jobs in support. The truckers returned when a binding inquiry was arranged, but walked off again.

The company argued the men had resigned while the union said they were locked out. A non-binding board of inquiry in December supported the firing of the shop steward but called on the company to take the 15 men back. The company refused.

Mr. Simmons was unable to say how many of the 15 were still unemployed. "If they have a job I'm happy,'' he said, "because at least they have some income to assist them in taking care of their families.'' An airport freight shed worker who refused to handle Bermuda Forwarders cargo on Tuesday, and a shop steward who supported him, were suspended for three days on Wednesday. Other airport workers walked of the job in support.

Yesterday, BAS chief executive Mr. Donald Hunter told the BIU that the airport workers would lose their jobs if they did not return by Saturday; rehiring would start on Monday.

"That's not just an unfair labour practice -- that's definitely breaking the law,'' Mr. Simmons said.

In a letter to the BIU leader yesterday, Mr. Hunter wrote: "You must understand that BAS/ASB works for the airlines that service Bermuda. We are required by international laws and regulations to carry out our assigned task as directed by and agreed to with the airlines.

"The airlines do not need Bermuda, they do not need BAS/ASB. If we do not provide the airlines with the service they have requested, the airlines will either stop coming to Bermuda or, as Delta Air Lines did in the Bahamas, bring in their own equipment and service themselves.'' Airlines and taxi operators yesterday reported the airport was functioning normally, and passengers were arriving and leaving on time.

Dock workers walked off after one of their colleagues was suspended for not handling Bermuda Forwarders cargo on Tuesday. A sit-in was held yesterday, with men occupying equipment to prevent others from doing the work. A small amount of freight left the docks but no containers.

Stevedoring Services handed out memos to workers yesterday afternoon, telling them they would not be paid if they did not work.

It quoted sections of the collective agreement requiring workers to work as directed, and suggested the BIU take its complaints about Bermuda Forwarders to court.

"At present, since work has stopped, pay has been suspended,'' the memo said.

"You and this company are being used once again by those who do not pay your wages (you actually pay theirs) to achieve their goals. While you are losing wages these people are still collecting theirs.'' FUTILE WAIT -- Atcheson Trucking foreman Mr. Mitchelle Berkeley, like six of his company's drivers, waited all day at the docks yesterday for containers that were never delivered.