A former employee of the axed Paget Dry Cleaners last night accused businessman Stephen Thomson of closing the business rather than accept a union ballot.

Michael Glasgow Sr., who worked at the Paget shop until its closure was announced on Thursday, also claimed that Mr. Thomson refused to take calls from Bermuda Industrial Union organiser Robert Johnston, which started as early as December last year.

Mr. Glasgow said: "This man would rather close down than give the workers their right to a fair ballot. It shows me he never intended to accept the BIU regardless of what he told the Minister Quinton Edness.'' And he claimed Mr. Thomson cut most wages by 60 cents an hour after he took over, abolished set wages and gave out a handbook which offered poorer conditions than under the old owners.

Mr. Glasgow said: "With the previous owners, we had a guaranteed weekly wage so working a few hours here and there was not a problem for most.

"But Thomson was not offering most of us a set wage and with the decrease in hourly wage for most, of course it was a reason for concern.

"The production crew were the ones not getting regular wages. We have regular monthly payments to make but we did not know what we would be paid from one week to the next.'' He added: "We were already represented by the union and we wanted to remain that way. Most of the conditions in this handbook were going backwards, not forwards.'' The dispute centres around a BIU bid to have Paget Dry Cleaners and Hamilton Val Cleaners part of the union and with a collective bargaining agreement.

Earlier this month the Island was hit by three days of industrial action which crippled bus, ferry and garbage collection services.

Tension was defused when Mr. Thomson agreed to a union ballot -- although the peace process collapsed over a row over the number of employees eligible to vote.

The union insisted that only the original workforce be allowed to vote -- but Mr. Thomson hit back that all 35 workers currently employed in what were two brand-new companies "deserve the right to self-determination and deserve a vote. One worker, one vote, period.'' The new twist in the row came as Mr. Thomson -- who also owns Just Shirts and Mailboxes Unlimited, took a full-page advertisement in The Royal Gazette setting out his side of the arguement.

He said he was forced to close the two shops "due to the severe financial crippling of our daily business -- we were unable to meet our $16,000 a week payroll''.

The advertisement added: "The loss of any goodwill associated with the company names and the lack of any indication that there could be any reasonable resolution through talks with the BIU, even when offered their choice of mediation or arbitration, combined with the continued threats of violence and work stoppages, have given the owners no other choice than to close out businesses and put them up for sale.''