BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP said the vote will be called because of frustration over a gratuities dispute with hoteliers and Government's lack of action to settle it.

He said he anticipated the workers would strike in April if they put it to a vote.

But last night Labour Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said he has set in motion events answering Mr. Simmons' complaint.

"I can't comment on this nonsense,'' he said of Mr. Simmons call for a strike vote.

The Minister said a new Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board will hold hearings into the dispute on April 19.

Its terms of reference, he said, is to look into the 1992 gratuities dispute as well as the fact that the union and hotels have yet to sign th 1991/1994 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The April 19 hearing will mark the third time a disputes board has wrestled with the gratuities dispute.

American Mr. Arnold Zack, who last year chaired hearings into the Grotto Bay-BIU dispute, will chair the hearing.

Last night, Mr. John Harvey of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda said he was irritated to hear from The Royal Gazette that Mr. Pearman had set April 19 as the hearing date.

"It's shocking how affairs of this importance are carried out,'' he said. "I was in my office all day and heard nothing of this.'' He called Mr. Simmons' call for a strike vote "grossly irresponsible''.

The BIU claims hotel workers are entitled to 1992 gratuities, accusing management of "pocketing'' them.

Hotels lawyer Mr. Alan Dunch has accused Mr. Pearman of caving in to union pressure. Mr. Pearman had previously urged the union to take its disagreement on gratuities to court.

Background to dispute -- Page 6 Also yesterday, Mr. Simmons urged all workers in Bermuda to sign a petition against Government's plan to increase the Hospital Levy by one percent.

He said the tax increase would be shouldered directly by workers.

"We have just paid for the recession through short work weeks, layoffs, redundancies and in many cases unemployment,'' Mr. Simmons said quoting from the petition.

"To now place such a burden on the working class is unfair, unjust and certainly unnecessary.'' The union leader argued that the levy increase would not go directly to the hospitals but to the Consolidated Fund for spending "on all sorts of things''.

In imposing the increase, Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul waived convention that split responsibility for the levy evenly between employer and employee. Instead, he said employers were permitted to collect from employees the full one percent increase.

Mr. Simmons said there was still time to get Government to change the increase before collection began on April 1.

He said the union had taken up the fight after the Progressive Labour Party had failed to stop it in the House of Assembly.