new moves to boost industrial peace.

Mr. Alex Scott said he would be meeting shortly with trade unions and employer organisations.

"I realise there are some concerns, and I think we should sit down to discuss them.'' The flare-up is over Government's new "code of good industrial relations practice''.

An angry Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons claimed part of the code sought to create division in the labour movement.

"We also see it as a tool for management to intimidate people into having their union decertified.'' The controversial section, headed "derecognition of a trade union'', suggests steps workers should take if they want to leave a union, or join another one.

It states union representation at a company should be abolished -- if a secret ballot shows that to be the wish of the majority of employees.

The collective bargaining agreement between the union and employer would then be "null and void'', the code says.

Mr. Simmons hit out: "We see it as an open invitation to union rivalry, and the poaching of union members by another organisation.

"It is an interference in the rights of people to be members of a union of their choice.'' Yesterday, Mr. Scott said he had only scanned the code, which was tabled in the House of Assembly last Friday by Labour Minister the Hon. John Irving Pearman, and was not in a position to make a detailed statement.

But he was aware of the BIU concerns.

"There is always room of improving industrial relations, and that is the intent of drafting this code.'' He added: "My first reaction is that there seems to be some areas of concern, and I would like to pursue these.

"What the Shadow Ministry intends to do is sit down with members of organised labour to get their feelings about what the Minister has presented.'' Mr. Scott said he intended meeting the BIU, the Bermuda Public Services Association, and the Bermuda Employers' Council.

"I don't want to see anything that causes industrial relations problems.'' The code, which is not legally binding, covers such subjects as rights in the workplace, wrongful dismissal, discrimination, terms and conditions of employment, lock-outs, strikes and grievance procedures.

It was approved by the Labour Advisory Council (LAC) following a series of meetings between union and employer representatives.