Confusion last night surrounded claims that firefighters at the Bermuda International Airport were staging industrial action after union chiefs denied the men had withdrawn their services.

Vice president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU), Chris Fur-bert, admitted there was unrest between the majority of the firefighters, but said none of them had failed to go into work.

The Royal Gazette reported yesterday how some of the Airport firemen, who are employed by Serco Aviation Services, had been taking industrial action since Saturday.

The action was believed to be over pay, but manager of Serco Bermuda Contracts Richard Savard refused to comment on the reasons behind the action and said remaining staff were covering the shifts.

However, last night, the BIU emphatically denied that any firefighters and officers employed at the Airport had gone on strike, but were merely refusing to work a new shift system introduced at the weekend. Instead, Mr. Furbert said the disgruntled firefighters were going in at the time of their original shifts and staying until the time they should leave.

Whether they were being utilised, he said, was entirely up to Serco management. Mr. Furbert said: "The Airport firemen did not walk off the job in strike action over pay. They are not on strike.

"They are going in at the times they should go in and not leaving until the end of their shift. If they are not being utilised, that is up to the management.'' He claimed that last Thursday an official notice about the shift changes went on notice boards and was distributed to the workers.

A meeting was held between Serco and union representatives on Friday, when management was told that 90 percent of the firefighters employed were not happy with the alterations and further discussions were needed. But he said he was told by Serco bosses that the changes to rotas would go ahead as planned the following day -- Saturday.

Mr. Furbert said the firefighters' contracts stated that changes to shifts may be changed but, if they were, it had to be with 14 days' notice and with the agreement of the men.

On this occasion, he said, 14 days official notice was not given and no agreement was reached.

He added: "The men are covering the shifts they were originally down to cover. They are refusing to do the new ones.

"As far as we are concerned, the men are going in. We certainly hope they are going to get paid.

"I have no idea how long this will go on for, but I'm very optimistic it can be resolved soon. I am just trying to fix up a meeting with Glen Fubler, the Government's Labour Relations Officer.'' The firefighters at the Airport are listed as providing essential services to Bermuda, which, according to Mr. Furbert, means they cannot strike without first giving 21 days' notice.

But he said, as the men were not taking industrial action, they were not breaking their contracts. Last night Mr. Savard said he wanted to say very little on the dispute, and would not confirm or deny any of the BIU's claims.

But he did say: "We have some employees who have indicated an unwillingness to work and others who have shown a willingness to work and we are using the latter to do the work.

"We have managed the resources we have and all of the shifts are covered. I'm not a Labour Relations Officer. I'm not going to define what situation we have.

"People have said they won't work and others have said they will. That is the situation.'' UNIONS UNS