in a huddle with industrial relations experts in a bid to find solutions to workplace strife.

Three professors from Michigan State University will join up to 50 figures from Bermuda's industrial scene during what is being billed as a "retreat''.

The three-day seminar, from April 5 to 7, was announced by the Hon. Maxwell Burgess in the Senate yesterday as a Government attempt to find "common resolve'' and build trust.

The aim would be to eliminate time lost through strikes, he said.

"This will be just the beginning of a number of tripartite meetings that we're going to need.'' Subjects will include the way Bermuda carries out collective bargaining, and foreign industrial relations trends the Island could adopt.

Participants would include members of employer-union negotiation teams, Sen.

Burgess told The Royal Gazette .

He was not able to confirm if Ministers will be involved. But he said the venue would be revealed in a day or two.

Sen. Burgess also told senators he was "prodding and pushing'' for a settlement to industrial disputes.

A resolution to the situation in the small hotels might not be that far away, he said.

"Good industrial relations is going to be the key to our survival over the next decade,'' he said.

The best way to keep inflation down was through high productivity and good industrial relations were needed for that. Good labour relations were also important for the Island to be competitive.

"There is no room for mistrust to live in our industrial relations any longer.'' Management and labour needed to "put aside'' the deep scars caused by mistrust.