arguments when Bermuda Industrial Union leader Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP threatened to protest in the streets if two board rulings are not rolled back.

Mr. Simmons claimed the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board was not managing hotel workers' contract hearings properly.

He insisted again that all 19 members of the BIU's hotels division negotiating team be paid to attend the hearings.

He also demanded television cameras be allowed back into Cathedral Hall where the hearings are taking place.

"It is my honest view that the board is not managing these hearings in a proper judicial manner,'' an angry Mr. Simmons said. He added: "I will take my case to the streets if I don't get justice here.'' He made the demands as day five of the hotel workers' contract hearings got underway yesterday. The talks resume on Monday when the board is expected to rule on the BIU's demands.

The Hotel Employers of Bermuda and BIU have spent most of the week arguing over preliminary issues. Only two witnesses have testified so far.

And with little progress made yesterday as the two camps bickered heatedly across the table, the union is not expected to present its case until August.

The talks -- adjourned for two weeks earlier this month because both sides had other commitments -- are being adjourned for a second time next Wednesday because HEB members and a board member are unable to attend.

Mr. Simmons claimed hoteliers were not abiding by the board's ruling this week that up to seven members of the negotiating team must be paid to attend the hearings.

He said the team's members had yet been informed by management they could attend the hearings without fear of losing pay.

When HEB chief executive officer Mr. John Harvey said he had not been told who the seven members Mr. Simmons wants at his side are, the union leader shot back: "I'm not going to pick and choose 'em. It will cause friction between our division.'' Members of the negotiating team continued their apparent protest of the ruling by failing to show at the hearings again yesterday, despite the ruling this week up to seven must be paid to attend.

The hotels division president, vice president and secretary showed up, but said they were only there because it was their day off.

"The board is absolutely wrong in ruling all 19 can't be here without loss of pay,'' Mr. Simmons charged. He added the number had never been limited to seven in past hotel talks.

Mr. Simmons said the ban on the Press bringing television cameras or tape recorders into the hearings was "a slight and a kick in the face of the citizens of this country'' He said residents had the right to know what's going on in the Island's No. 1 industry.

"I demand the TV ban be lifted promptly and there be respect for the freedom of the Press and right of the people to know,'' Mr. Simmons said.

Mr. Simmons said he was disappointed in the Bermuda Bar Council's refusal to comment on its reasons for objecting to American lawyer Mr. Stephen Shawe practising here.

He went on to accuse Mr. Shawe and his law firm of being "union busters'' and he even went as far as to charge "racism'' may be "creeping'' into the hearings.

Mr. Shawe in turn accused Mr. Simmons of repeatedly raising the issue of pay for all 19 members of his team to try to make board chairman Prof. Ronald Haughton feel guilty and "push him into making more favourable rulings''.

The union's contract demands include: a wage hike of more than five percent, significant increases in compensation due to layoff, double time pay instead of the current time and a half for holidays, insurance to include doctor's office and home visits, compassionate leave increased from four to five working days for overseas funerals and maternity leave expanded form nine to ten weeks.

The HEB, which implemented the arbitrated Hobgood Award (which included a five percent wage hike) in May, 1991, says it can't afford the union's demands.

And it is angry at having to be at the hearings in the first place because it believes the union "reneged '' on a promise to be bound by the Hobgood Award.

Unionised hotel workers have been without a collective bargaining agreement since February, 1991, when it expired. They have refused to accept the five percent wage hike.