How could the firing of one man plunge a country into crisis? It sounds incredible for an Island which banks on tourism as a crucial money-spinner.

But just 16 months ago the Country was wracked by strikes following the dismissal of the union's chief shop steward at Bermuda Forwarders.

Even the international media fleetingly cast its eyes across the water.

It was a public relations nightmare for Bermuda as tourists flew home with memories of placard-waving pickets at the airport.

Yet, with under a week before the election, labour relations has failed to budge from the back burner.

Why? Perhaps, on reflection, the 1992 summer of discontent was a double-edged sword for both Bermuda's main parties.

While the UBP could use it to demonstrate union muscle-flexing, the Opposition could hail it as an example of failure to control industrial chaos.

Or, perhaps, memories are far, far too short for the public to really care.

Or, perhaps, the confusion and complexities surrounding labour relations have got the better of everyone, including politicians.

Nevertheless the parties have touched on it in their manifestoes.

The UBP has pledged to introduce a new Code of Employment Ethics and Practice by June 1994.

The PLP has vowed, among other things, to: Increase dialogue between employers and employees through regular meetings; and Boost the role of the Labour Advisory Council.

Some blows, too, have been struck on the issue.

Labour Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said this week: "The PLP are so closely associated with the labour movement we wonder if they can truly be a middle man.'' The Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan agreed, saying the PLP had historically set itself up against the business community.

"That mediation process would be lost. It would be the PLP trade unions versus the business community.'' Shadow Labour Minister Mrs. Lois Browne Evans, however, said a PLP Government would bring industrial peace.

"If you experience pain you understand poverty. If you experience nothing but wealth you can't understand. The major core of the UBP Government is like that.

"We come from a labour base. We come from the people. We are not egotistical, and operate through greed.'' Tough words. But Mrs. Browne Evans did concede labour relations was not a "burning issue''.

A stark contrast with 1992 and the final months of 1991 when the Bermuda Forwarders row regularly hit the headlines.

The developments are worth recalling, if only as an example of the appalling mess a Country can land in through bloody-minded management and workers.

They also raise the question, can arbitration ever work when defiance rules? American labour expert Dr. Leo Troy, who has written on Bermuda's industrial troubles, believes collective bargaining is the key.

Mr. Lynn Darrell was given his marching orders on September 6, 1991 for apparent insubordination.

Fifteen colleagues were later fired after staging a sympathy strike.

And the dispute then flared into a string of Island-wide strikes when the company refused to heed a board of inquiry's ruling.

This had stated Mr. Darrell's dismissal was justified and the 15 workers should be reinstated.

An enraged Bermuda Industrial Union seemed set on a bruising collision course with Government.

The union, however, called off the Island-wide stoppages after the Supreme Court agreed to stay a $100,000-a-day fine for alleged illegal striking.

Government also rushed through legislation to set up a new tribunal, with legally enforceable findings.

And earlier this year this Trade Dispute Tribunal reversed the previous ruling.

It found the firing of Mr. Darrell was unjustified and he should be compensated.

But it ruled his colleagues should not be compensated or reinstated.

To the outsider it was a strange turn in events, although it has seemingly put the seal on the row for now, despite union defiance.

On the hotels front, Bermuda has also seen a string of conflicts thrown in the lap of the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board -- whose findings are not legally enforceable.

Unrest blew up as Grotto Bay, Pink Beach and then Elbow Beach refused to recognise the union.

Recently the spectre of an all-out strike was raised as hotels continued their battle for tips' increases for 1992.

These disputes remain unresolved, suggesting all is still far from well with industrial relations.

Labour Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman, however, was keen to remain upbeat.

"I think the labour scene over the past year has been improving,'' he said.

Warring factions were using Government boards to settle rows, and remove them from the public arena.

Mr. Pearman said Government was planning to review labour legislation and bring in the Code of Ethics for the workplace.

He added possible reform of the essential industries board had been on the cards.

But meetings were put on hold because of the election.

Sir John said a PLP Government faced failure, however much it wanted to compromise in a dispute.

"The day that conflict comes along, the Government would have to make a decision whether it supports the union or whether it supports business.

"Just the perception that it's doing one or the other will militate against their ability to act as arbiter.

"That would create, I believe, a sense of insecurity in our society.'' Mrs. Browne Evans recalled her Labour Day speech when she told workers to "take stock''.

"Last year they were tied up in boards of inquiry and tribunals and long negotiations with management.

"In fact there has been a concerted effort by a combination of management and employers to break the union,'' she said.

Mrs. Browne Evans spoke of a circulated letter which outlined, she claimed, a plan to form a "defence fund'' to help hotels.

The plan was to get the union -- strapped for cash, although deemed over powerful -- embroiled in legal wrangling, she added.

Government has denied such a conspiracy theory.

But Mrs. Browne Evans said: `I don't think it was by accident that so many people did not recognise the union.'' The PLP would go back to the drawing board with industrial relations, Mrs.

Browne Evans added.

"We would have an inquiry into industrial relations.'' OCTOBER 1993 ELECTION