Settlement Board was yesterday attacked by Hotel Employers of Bermuda president Mr. Dennis Tucker.

And he let off a barrage of criticism at the Bermuda Industrial Union's general strike call this summer, saying it caused "irrevocable damage''.

Mr. Tucker was testifying during the hotel workers contract talks before the new disputes board.

Under redirect examination from HEB lawyer Mr. Stephen Shawe, he agreed legislation to create the disputes board was introduced in the House of Assembly last May after Government was unable to convince the BIU to accept the 1991 arbitrated Hobgood award, which gave workers a five percent pay raise.

But he said the HEB "vehemently opposed'' the fact parties would be legally bound by its awards.

"The legislation gives the BIU no incentive whatsoever to try and negotiate a settlement because it knows full well it will end up before the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board,'' Mr. Tucker said.

Noting hotel hearings are going into their second month -- having been adjourned for two months over the summer -- he said hoteliers were "very concerned'' about the amount of time they and their staff were having to spend testifying before the new board.

"It takes us away from managing our hotels and trying to provide our guests with the best service possible,'' said Mr. Tucker, vice president of Sonesta Beach Hotel.

He added: "Unfortunately in the future we will also probably be spending long periods of time before such boards.'' Mr. Shawe asked Mr. Tucker what the BIU had done during the two-month summer adjournment to affect hotel occupancies and guest satisfaction.

"During the recess the BIU was embroiled in a dispute with Bermuda Forwarders,'' said Mr. Tucker.

But before he could continue, BIU leader Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP complained the subject of the summer strike had not been raised before.

Disputes board chairman professor Ronald Haughton said each party could construct its case how it wanted and, unlike in a court of law, could bring up subjects which had not been brought up during previous examinations.

Mr. Tucker said the truckers dispute "spilled over'' into other industries, "greatly affecting tourists''.

He told the disputes board how his hotel had to set up a desk to deal with the "hundreds of fears'' from hotel guests about how they were going to get to the airport and get around in light of bus and ferry drivers walking off the job.

"It's a two-way street,'' Mr. Tucker said. "Each party has an obligation to do what has to be done to enhance the tourist business.'' Said Mr. Tucker: "The BIU could not have picked a worse time to call a strike. A great inconvenience was suffered by our guests.'' He called the BIU's picketing at the airport "very irresponsible' and said he was concerned not only about the inconvenience tourists suffered, but what they would tell their friends about the strike.

"This has hurt our industry and hurt it very badly. It has caused irrevocable damage.

"Why would anyone want to come to the "perfect'' vacation spot and be subjected to pickets at the airport and unable to move around at their leisure?'' Mr. Simmons hit back in his final examination of Mr. Tucker by handing out articles from The Royal Gazette of Sonesta Beach's decision to lay off a number of its workers and close for winter -- at a time the Tourism Minister was trying to market Bermuda as a year-round destination.

He also produced articles saying the Island's visitors were more inconvenienced by the rain than the strike and that hotels had been minimally affected by it.

One article also stated only 71 out of 2,000 odd BIU members supported the strike call.

But Mr. Tucker shot back: "That's one too many!'' Before concluding his questioning of Mr. Tucker, Mr. Simmons again accused the HEB of "tricking guests'' by increasing the service charge and keeping the difference to offset giving workers a pay hike.

He asked, "Weren't you defrauding the workers by doing this?'' Mr. Tucker denied the claim.

Mr. Shawe's fourth witness, Elbow Beach Hotel financial director Mr. Edward Craven, spent the rest of the day explaining how the hotel gave its workers a raise.

He said the hotel had increased tipped and non-tipped workers' wages by increasing the service charge guests must pay and dividing it among both groups.

Mr. Shawe is expected to call his fifth witness today. The BIU has not begun its case yet.