care facilities at the Island's hotels, says the head of a group for single parents.

Mr. George Scott, president of Single Parents In Action, said Government, employers, and employees should all share the cost of providing adequate day care for workers in the tourism sector.

Mr. Scott, a former shop steward at Marriott's Castle Harbour, said many hotel workers were single parents.

And while Bermuda's day care centres generally operated during normal working hours from Monday to Friday, "Tourists have to be catered to seven days a week,'' he said.

Single parents in the hotel sector were forced to work on weekends and at other times when no day care was available, Mr. Scott said.

There was a direct relation to the social problems Bermuda faced, he said.

"This is where Government should step in,'' and pay some of the cost of providing day care, "because they're paying anyway.'' Hoteliers would also benefit. Much of the abuse of sick days that hoteliers complained about related to days when nobody was available to look after workers' children, he said.

But Mr. Scott said neither Government nor employers should have to pay the entire cost. Employees should also pay a share, he said.

Mr. John Harvey, chief executive officer of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, said day care facilities at each hotel were among BIU contract demands he described as "outlandish.''