ties with the BIU amid claims of a Government conspiracy against the working class.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons said hoteliers were also behind the plot.

And he claimed he had confidential documents to prove the conspiracy to bust the union.

But his allegations were firmly rebutted by Labour Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman.

He said Government was dismayed at current controversies embroiling local hotels, and urged the community to unite.

The pair clashed in the House of Assembly only hours before 35 Pink Beach workers voted unanimously against cutting links with the BIU.

At a special meeting at BIU headquarters, they vowed not to sign the new contracts handed to them by management.

The vote seemed to put the union on a collision course with management.

It was last week Pink Beach's Canadian owner told staff he was tearing up the collective bargaining agreement between the BIU and the Hotel Employers of Bermuda.

He said he was fed up with the drawn-out BIU-HEB contract talks, claiming the hotel industry was falling apart. And he pointed an accusing finger at the union.

Workers were told signing the new contracts, effective from December 16, would entitle them to a five percent rise, retroactive to May 24, 1991.

Another hotel caught up in controversy this week was Marriott Castle Harbour after the chief shop steward and PLP candidate for Warwick West Mr. George Scott lost his job.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mrs. Lois Browne Evans launched an impassioned attack on the decision of Pink Beach's owner.

She accused him of "audacity'' in saying he was fed up with the BIU-HEB talks.

The offer of a pay rise to those who signed the contracts amounted to a bribe, she added.

"We can't condone this type of belligerent attitude by a hotel owner not resident in this Country.'' She added: "This sort of behaviour is like what we had in the days before the civil rights movement in America. It was redneck behaviour.

"Does he think we're just a little banana republic to come here and talk like this?'' On Mr. Scott, Mrs. Browne Evans said there appeared to be a "plan to get rid of the hierarchy of the union.'' She added any PLP candidate could also expect to have his character and ability denigrated.

Mr. Simmons claimed the conspiracy began on August 28 and 29, 1990 when hoteliers and Government met to "launch an attack against the working class, with special emphasis on the hotels and the union.'' He said he had confidential documents to prove his allegation.

And he suggested Pink Beach bosses were guilty of bribery, blackmail, intimidation, and discrimination.