forget who they were or the struggle that gave them the freedoms they enjoy today.

His message was delivered during the opening session of the 13th Biennial Delegates Conference of the Bermuda Industrial Union.

Dr. Hooks, who is a past leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the oldest civil rights organisation in the United States, said he was impressed with the Island, its people and the confident atmosphere he encountered at union headquarters.

"As I look at your 48-year history,'' he said. "There must have been a lot of problems. All you young men and women are the beneficiaries of the sacrifices of your mothers and fathers.

"They stood back so that you might go forward, they did without so that you might have. Don't forget where you came from. This is a struggle.'' He said he had seen homeless people on Bermuda's streets as well as those who did not appear to know night from day. But those kinds of problems exist around the world.

"When I came to the BIU and saw the beautiful buildings and people moving back and forth, the credit union and the gas station, all of these are signs of progress.

"We must remind our children that we have made progress.

How can we expect our children to want to do better if we keep telling them it is as bad as it ever was.

"You've come a long way, but remember the struggle hasn't all been in vain.'' BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons who also addressed the delegates, said the theme for the conference was "unity is strength'', and it was chosen as a reminder that the union could not afford to be complacent, apathetic or weak.

"In the past two years, the establishment here in Bermuda has in my opinion declared war against the Bermuda Industrial Union.

"This not because we have been relaxed, or because we have become weak, but because we have attempted to reason with the establishment.'' Mr. Simmons said that there were two laws -- the Essential Industries Legislation of 1991 and the Trade Disputes Act of 1992 -- which were stacked against the workers.

He cited the Hotel Employers of Bermuda's refusal to sign the collective agreement and its refusal to honour a tribunal's ruling regarding workers tips as examples underscoring the need for unity in the labour movement to combat such "repressive legislation''.