Bermuda Industrial Union's new gas station are a load of hot air, a top ESSO employee said yesterday.

The latest twist came after a front-page report in The Workers' Voice claimed Ms Gordon, days before she quit as Environment Minister to become Premier, threatened workers at the Dundonald Street site with a shut-down in a row over the siting of gas tank vents near a relative's house.

But Andrew Dias, head of retail sales for oil company ESSO, who was present when the Premier visited the site two weeks ago, said: "She didn't say that she was going to close down the job and the job was never closed down at any point.

"I think that came from people assuming things because she is who she is -- what has happened is that people who were not really involved in it and didn't know what took place have spoken and they shouldn't have.'' Mr. Dias added there was "no confrontation or anything like that'' at the weekend meeting with Ms Gordon.

And he said: "In fact, she told her nephew and his father in front of me that they couldn't stop the job.'' He added that Ms Gordon had not been present at a meeting the next day, a Monday, when he met with planning officials to discuss fears over the siting of the vents.

Mr. Dias said: "Everybody did their job and at the end of the day, we resolved everything.'' Friday's edition of the BIU's in-house publication alleged Ms Gordon made the threat to the project supervisor in a row over vent pipes near a house owned by members of her family and occupied by a nephew.

But a furious Ms Gordon denied the claims and accused The Workers' Voice of "stooping so low to try and discredit me.'' The article -- which did not carry a byline -- was riddled with factual errors.

It claimed a planning department employee was present during the Sunday visit, which was untrue.

And it reported an un-named "union spokesperson'' as saying that Ms Gordon had said "she would have the job closed down if the pipes were not removed.'' It was also reported the union spokesperson said that "the approach by Ms Gordon was unbecoming of a person in her position.'' But yesterday, The Workers' Voice was still refusing to issue a public apology to Ms Gordon.

Lionel Pearman, listed as an assistant to editor Dr. Barbara Ball on the publication's masthead, said yesterday: "We haven't talked with our sources since The Royal Gazette came out because the person is unavailable right now.'' But he added he would "find out if it was accurate or not and go from there.'' The publication, while based at the BIU headquarters, is independent and union president Derrick Burgess has no control over its operation.

Mr. Burgess said he had met the Premier yesterday morning and that The Workers' Voice story had come up.

He added: "We are okay with the Premier -- the Premier did not threaten anyone, that's correct.'' Mr. Burgess also declined to comment on whether the defamatory reports would be the subject of an apology.

He said: "I don't really want to comment on that. If we are going to do anything it will be between me and the Premier.'' Ms Gordon could not be contacted for comment last night.

UNIONS UNS PLANNING PLN