workers shows that the union has forgotten that a free and democratic society is governed by law, not force.

By forcing a confrontation over the Bermuda Forwarders dispute -- instead of taking the matter to the courts -- the union has abandoned that principle and done a grave disservice to its members.

While both sides must take some of the blame for the dispute, it is the union which must bear the lion's share.

By first going back on strike when the matter had already been referred to arbitration, then by not seeking enforcement through the courts of the arbitration board's ruling that the company's workers be taken back, the union has failed to represent its members properly.

If the BIU really believes Bermuda Forwarders has broken the law -- as Mr.

Ottiwell Simmons MP, the union's president, has said in the past, it has a duty to its members and the 15 former employees to take the matter to court.

That course, and not this senseless escalation of the dispute, is the right one.

Yesterday's walk-out by workers at the airport and Hamilton Docks amply demonstrates the point.

Mr. Simmons is an important leader in Bermuda, not only as Union president but as a Member of Parliament. Yet he said on Monday that he does not care about Government's claim the current industrial action is illegal.

"It doesn't have any meaning to us,'' he said. "If the law is right, it should protect the workers.'' Mr. Simmons should know that if he disagrees with a law, he should attempt to change it, not break it.

Laws are changed by majority votes. That is why there are elections and why the House holds votes. That is how the law is created, and it is how it should be changed.

But the union appears to believe that "might is right'' and public pressure will be brought to bear on Bermuda Forwarders and Government to resolve the dispute in the union's favour.

We do not believe this will occur, and yesterday's events appear to bear this out. What we will have instead is escalation and possible catastrophe for Bermuda.

The union can avert this by calling off the action and seeking recourse through the courts -- before it ends up there itself as a defendant accused of breaching the Island's labour laws.

That is the union's best option. If it refuses to take it up, Government must act, although it is in a difficult situation.

Any action it takes to end secondary industrial actions could cause further escalation. This appears to be motivating the Labour Ministry's efforts to keep talking to both sides without taking concrete action.

But that takes time, something it may not have.

Its alternative is to seek injunctions against the union to end the work-to-rule and the blacklisting of Bermuda Forwarders' goods.

Risky as this may appear, Government must take this course and demonstrate that it, and not the union, is in charge of the Country.