Furious union boss Derrick Burgess yesterday vowed to take on holiday giants Club Med after the last 11 workers at their old St. George's hotel were laid off yesterday.

The eleven -- caretaking and maintenance staff at the closed resort most of whom have worked for Club Med since the mid-1980s -- were yesterday told they by a lawyer flown in by the firm were no longer needed and given just four weeks' pay in lieu of notice.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Burgess said: "They are very disappointed and upset -- someone just turned up and told them they didn't have a job.'' He added: "It's hard to come by jobs. No time is a good time to lose a job, but it's particularly unfortunate with Christmas coming up.'' And Labour and Home Affairs Quinton Edness said he would be looking into the matter. He said: "I don't know what else they can be made to do at this stage -- but we are investigating.'' Mr. Burgess said he had contacted Club Med after being called by stunned Club Med employees yesterday -- but was told the firm was not interested in discussing the situation.

He added that Club Med had never signed the 1991 hotels agreement -- but had always abided by it anyway.

Mr. Edness said: "I have attempted to speak to this French lawyer. It would at least have been polite of him to sit down and have a discussion with the union.

"I am very concerned about the people who worked down there and more concerned about where they're going to work now.'' The industry standard is four weeks' pay in lieu of notice -- plus a severance deal of two weeks' pay per year up to ten years and three weeks' pay after ten years, up to a maximum of a year's salary.

Mr. Burgess said: "I have been trying to sort out something about Club Med for some time. We've tried to get in touch with them time and time again.'' He added that he had also contacted Government labour relations experts and Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness in a bid to thrash out a decent deal for the remaining Club Med staff.

Union boss slams Club Med layoffs Mr. Burgess said: "Club Med's attitude was they came to Bermuda and had no respect for it or for its people.'' But he promised: "We are going to pressure them vigorously -- we are going to contact their Bermudian lawyers and between them and Government, I hope some commonsense will prevail.'' The Royal Gazette revealed in September that Club Med International wanted to accelerate the handover of its lease.