With hotel occupancy projected to be low in the fist half of 2010 the Bermuda Industrial Union hopes workers will not be impacted.

Last year saw occupancy figures fall 11 percent, to 54 percent, compared to occupancy levels in 2008.

Aside from redundancies caused by the closure of Elbow Beach's main hotel the level of redundancies at other hotels were on par with previous years BIU head Chris Furbert said.

And he is hoping it will be a similar story this year.

One of the factors in keeping jobs was a wage freeze agreement reached last year between the Bermuda Hotel Association and Bermuda Industrial Union. The agreement expires on February 24 this year. The agreement, brokered with the help of the Government, meant that hotel workers would not seek increases but in return were exempt from pay role tax.

"I really have to give the Government credit," Mr. Furbert said. "The exemption was a big help. This could never have taken place without the support of the Government."

He added that he was waiting to see what impact initiatives such as a 50 percent off sale on hotel rooms this quarter would have on occupancy levels.

At the end of January he is meeting with hotel workers to discuss their concerns and will then meet with BHA executives.

As for whether a similar deal could be reached this year Mr. Furbert said he would wait to talk with union members before commenting. But he added: "The community as a whole has to realise you can't keep on asking union workers to take wage increases when insurance payments go up and electricity prices go up. It is not fair on the workers."