and Ports workers over the removal of a ferryman.

After days of talking, the Bermuda Industrial Union and management hammered out a resolution to the dispute -- just 24 hours before industrial action was due to begin.

The BIU had given the official 21 days' notice necessary for strike action in a essential service on October 21 with action set to start today.

However, all sides were staying tightlipped over the fate of the worker at the centre of the dispute who had been paid-off by his employer after a series of complaints from the public over his rudeness, lateness and drunkenness on the Somerset ferry route.

And a brief statement issued by the Government, who had mediated in the dispute, said: "The Union and management wish to publicly express their regret for the comments and specific inferences made by some unknown source regarding the individual involved which were reported in an article in the October 27 edition of The Royal Gazette .

"The Administration of Marine and Ports and the executive of this division of the BIU wish to take this opportunity to recommit themselves to the principle of allowing disputes going through the process of mediation, to run that course, without public comment.''