Disputes Tribunal this summer, Bermuda Forwarders lawyer Mr. Alan Dunch told Supreme Court yesterday.

"It seems to me the odds are now stacked against employers,'' he said. "How I should advise employers in the future is causing me considerable concern.'' Mr. Dunch said the rights of every employer in Bermuda were altered in a "most startling manner'' after July 7 when the Act creating the tribunal was put into effect.

He made the comments on the third day of a court hearing to determine whether Government can legally order Bermuda Forwarders to appear before the Trade Disputes Tribunal to settle what it and the BIU claim is a dispute.

Mr. Dunch is adamant it cannot and is asking the court to quash Government's order.

The hearing concluded in the afternoon after Mr. Dunch had presented his case.

Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground, acknowledging the matter was "pressing'', said he would hand down a judgment as soon as possible.

Mr. Dunch submitted the Trade Disputes Tribunal was created too late to have any effect on his client.

Said the lawyer: "It (the Trade Disputes Act) was never a purpose-made let's-get-Bermuda Forwarders bill.

"What was done on July 7 was good from that point forward. But it cannot be used to go back.'' The lawyer submitted there was nothing in the wording of the Act that implied the new tribunal could here past disputes.

Had it been intended to deal with Bermuda Forwarders, he said the Act, which says the tribunal can deal with "any labour dispute'', would have also said, "whether it arose before or after the coming into operation of this Act''.

But Attorney General Mr. Walter Maddocks argued the Act meant "any labour dispute'' in existence when the Minister of Labour makes an order for a party to appear before the tribunal.

Mr. Maddocks said a dispute had existed when the Minister decided to send Bermuda Forwarders and the BIU before the tribunal.

And BIU lawyer Mr. Julian Hall had argued it was public knowledge that the Trade Disputes Tribunal was created for the purpose of resolving the union-Bermuda Forwarders dispute.

However, Mr. Dunch claimed there was no dispute at the time because the BIU has admitted the 15 ex-truckers terminated their employment by walking off their jobs in support of a sacked shop steward.

He said the 15 workers no longer had contracts of employment so there could be no "dispute''.

Mr. Dunch said it was his position a labour dispute existed in September over the shop steward's firing, but that it came to an end when the 15 workers walked off the job and a subsequent Board of Inquiry made its ruling -- that the 15 men be reinstated.

He claimed the old dispute could not legally be rehashed.

But Mr. Maddocks said it would defeat the purpose of the new tribunal if an employer facing an unresolved labour dispute could simply dismiss an employee and say he cannot go before the tribunal because by firing the employee, no dispute existed.

Before concluding his case, Mr. Dunch claimed it was wrong for Government to create a new board to hear the so-called dispute just because it could not send the matter before its Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board.

Bermuda Forwarders was not considered an essential industry for service.