Government and the Bermuda Industrial Union yesterday reached a tentative pact which could end an overtime ban before the Cup Match holiday begins.

The agreement will go before Government blue collar workers tonight at a special meeting at the Bermuda Industrial Union.

BIU president Derrick Burgess yesterday announced that the negotiation teams had reached a tentative agreement.

This came after a day-long round of talks between both sides with a labour relations officer mediating.

But Mr. Burgess refused to reveal the contents of the agreement and would only say that it was the product of a "joint effort''.

He also refused to be drawn on when workers will halt their overtime ban which has caused chaos in the ferry system and has threatened to put a damper on the Cup Match holiday.

Bus workers yesterday joined ferry workers in an overtime ban which could have left Cup Match fans stumped.

If the tentative agreement is ratified by workers this evening, Cup Match revellers will be able to make use of bus and ferry services over the two-day holiday.

Bermuda Public Transportation deputy director Dan Simmons yesterday said that regular bus service was not effected by the overtime ban.

But he admitted that charter service had to be cancelled, and will continue to be, until the dispute is resolved.

On Friday bus workers informed the PTB that they will join the ferry worker's overtime ban.

Last week ferry workers notified Marine and Ports that they would be launching an overtime ban to protest slow wage negotiations. The action has resulted in some ferry services being cancelled.

The workers are dissatisfied with the pace at which wage negotiations were proceeding.

Govt. and union reach tentative pact The controversy has its roots in a 1995 collective agreement where more than 900 blue-collar workers were awarded wage rises of more than three percent by an arbitrator.

The arbitrator made the award following a lengthy dispute. The deal included a 3.2 percent wage hike for the first year, 1995, and a 3.4 percent raise for the second year, 1996.

Wages for the third year were left unresolved and was the reason for the ban.

At the time of the 1995 award, Government had hoped the increases handed down by the arbitrator would have been nearer to the inflation rate at the time of 2 to 2.4 percent.

Ferry and bus workers are just one of several Government departments in the process of negotiating their wages. The wage agreement expired in December 1996.

Reportedly the BIU notified the Government, in October 1996, that the third year wage for all Government workers, under the collective agreement, was due to be negotiated. But talks did not begin until January.

On Sunday, Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said he believed the arbitrator of the original collective agreement would have wanted the current inflation rate to be taken into account in the negotiations.

Noting May's inflation rate of 1.9 percent, Dr. Gibbons said the Government had been trying keep wages close to the inflation rate in a bid to keep transportation prices low for visitors and locals.

Dr. Gibbons said what Government was offering the workers was above inflation.

Failure to ratify the agreement at tonight's meeting could wreck plans for special Cup Match ferries, ruining the plans of residents and visitors.

Scheduled ferry service between Dockyard and St. George's -- which runs twice a day -- will be extended into the evening. The ferry will return to St.

George's to pick up commuters and depart for Dockyard at 8 p.m., arriving in the West End around 9.15 p.m.

The Friday ferry will leave Dockyard at 7.45 a.m. and sail directly to St.

George's where it will remain all day. it will cruise back to Dockyard at approximately 8.30 p.m.

The regular Paget/Warwick and Somerset/Dockyard ferries will be operating on a Saturday schedule over the Cup Match holiday.

TRANSPORTATION TRA GOVERNMENT GVT