the right to join trade unions early on Saturday morning.

MPs divided on party lines for the 19-9 vote on the Trade Union Amendment Act, which came after some six hours of debate which began at 1 a.m.

Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox opened the debate by reviewing the history of the development of trade unions and the role that the International Labour Organisation played in this.

She said that she wished to set the record straight in that there had been allegations of a lack of consultation with the proposed amendments.

She said that the Labour Advisory Council comprised of employers, Government and trade unions, had discussed the amendments and that there had been dialogue with the ILO.

Ms Cox said Government did not want to see a rift forming between employers and employees. "We will not be doing anything to cause the economy to collapse,'' she said.

The Amendments to the Trade Union Act 1965 will remove the constraints on bargaining units and allow managers to be members of unions.

The amendments provide that managers need not be in the same bargaining unit as workers as this could cause conflict. The bill gives managers the option of being in a separate unit.

Ms Cox said traditionally recognition of trade unions had been a voluntary system and a legal framework to allow managers to choose a union had been missing.

Ms Cox said that the PLP promised to redress the imbalance in the previous system and "We keep our promises,'' she added.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Michael Dunkley warned the new law could "close down the country overnight''.

He described the Act as a "sham'' which "would create a blatant conflict of interest and could create further bureaucracy and lead to inflation''.

Mr. Dunkley also attacked the way Government had rushed the legislation through "at the dead of night'' and said it had gone back on promises to consult employers.

Remarking on Bermuda Industrial Union president and Government MP Derrick Burgess, he wondered to Government jeers if the union was "so close to Government'' that it could force through legislation which was "detrimental to the Country''.

Mr. Dunkley also attacked the state of labour relations since the Government had taken power.

"There have been more disputes in the last nine months than ever before,'' he said, citing the Police "blue flu'', dock disputes and taxi protests among other problems.

He said the US and Canada had passed legislation specifically banning managers and supervisors from joining unions. Noting that the US was the most successful economy in the world, he said Bermuda was moving backwards.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said the PLP had thought up this legislation because they had no idea how business worked.

He said: "They don't have the experience.'' He attacked the PLP for saying the amendment act was aimed at middle management.

He said: "We keep hearing it's about middle management but it's not about them alone.'' He said it could affect all management right up the scale.

Mr. Dodwell said not enough consultation had taken place between the government and employers, with just two meetings before Friday's vote.

"The process has failed, it's broken down, there's been a lack of due process. The tripartite process didn't work. We are trying to put the other side of the case but I don't feel we've had sufficient opportunity to do so.'' Mr. Dodwell said Government had gone for the worst possible option by giving management the right to organise in the same union.

"It's not inclusiveness, it's nepotism,'' he charged.

Mr. Dodwell said employers' organisations were united against the bill and international business would be tempted to take flight from Bermuda when they realised how the bill would work.

He said: "They can transfer out of here at the stroke of a pen and a push of a button.

Relationships between middle and senior management would also be poisoned, he said.

"How am I going to have good relations if I have to choose not to join a union but a middle manager does? It will discourage upward mobility and involvement in a deeper way.'' He said there were already strikes on the docks every couple of weeks and they were only kept running on those occasions by management pitching in. "What would happen if they were members of a trade union and they didn't clear the docks? It would be a national disaster. What would happen if managers of Stevedoring Services decided to go out in sympathy?'' Managers also knew confidential information, said Mr. Dodwell, which created a conflict of interest.

Allan Marshall (UBP) said that the PLP was keeping its Election pledge to the BIU with this bill and leaving the business people to pick up the pieces.

Ms Cox had claimed that thorough consultation had taken place but he had been told otherwise.

"You can't help the wage-earner by damaging the wage-provider,'' he said, adding that the effects the law would have on Bermuda's place in the competitive global ecomony had not been analysed.

Mr. Marshall said he seriously doubted that Bermuda's competitors had such legislation and that it was not business-friendly legislation.

He commented that the House had already heard that Bermuda's foreign sales corporation (FSC) business had been threatened by objections from the European Union and this bill would further hurt international business.

Mr. Marshall said that what was needed was effective policies for a free market system without undue burden and increased regulation.

Development and Opportunity Minister Terry Lister said there was no question that management needed representation and refered to the experience of managers at The Elbow Beach Hotel.

He said Bermudians at the hotel had moved to other hotels or had left the hotel industry altogether.

He accused the UBP of using "boogie-man'' theories which forecast that whatever the PLP did would cause the country to fall apart.

Mr. Lister said Ms Cox had taken the time to ensure that she had heard from everyone before putting forward the bill.

He said that it was alleged that mangers in a union would be asked to ride two horses and that this would impact their ability to do their job.

He asked: "Why can't managers do their job if they're in a union? The rank and file do.'' With regard to comments about a loss of competitive advantage, Mr. Lister said the rest of the world would see Bermuda as a leader in passing this bill.

He said he kept hearing how Government had had labour problems, particularly with the Police and the Prison Service since the Election; but he said this was because the Police had not had a contract for two years when the PLP was elected.

And he said that he couldn't believe that if the bill passed, all of a sudden all managers who worked for exempted companies would join unions. He asked: "How will this Act make international businesses less competitive?'' The FSC business was not important to Bermuda because there were not that many in the Country.

Insofar as the concern that the new law would destroy tourism, he said the UBP had already done that. This bill would save tourism because managers will have a place to share their ideas.

Mr. Lister said Bermudians were "flushed out'' of the industry after they reached a certain point and managers will now have protection.

He predicted that within five years, there would be Bermudians at the top of some of our hotels.

Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson said the bill was not introducing more regulation but was freeing people.

He said Government wanted to bring people together.

"How can we have a united community if we stop people coming together?'' he asked.

The legislation was in the best interests of Bermuda and would facilitate meaningful discussion between management and the workforce, said Dale Butler (PLP).

Not one labour situation since the General Election had gotten out of hand, he said. And if managers and workers were in the same union, there would be consultation instead of confrontation in the event of a dispute.

He said that the bill did not force anyone to join a union.

Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon said it was important to look at capital inflows and outflows and to ask who runs the businesses that keep Bermuda going.

She said that companies invested in Bermuda because the climate here was conducive to business.

Ms Gordon indicated that the USA was Bermuda's main trading partner and that Country did not have this kind of legislation.

She said the idea of trade unionism originated to help people who could not help themselves, but managers were not like that.

Ms Gordon said if the UBP ruined tourism, it certainly left a lot of money in the coffers when the PLP took over. She said if the PLP did not get it right, it could rest assured that international business would be looking for a less confining jurisdiction.

She said other jurisdictions were already getting investments that Bermuda should have had, because people no longer thought Bermuda was a good investment.

Ultimately the poorer people would be hurt, because such legislation would have a knock-on effect which would impact the whole ecomomy, she said.

At this point Attorney General Dame Lois Browne-Evans said: "If she was white I'd think it was Mr. Vesey talking all over again.'' Trade union amendment Ms Gordon held up a document from the ILO which indicated that in previous years, Bermuda had received 55 percent of all investment in the Caribbean.

"This investment creates jobs,'' she said. "The PLP isn't employing them.

These are the people who are going to be out of work.'' She said: "Dame Lois brings a lot of baggage from the 50's and 60's with her.'' Dame Lois then jumped up and said: "Tell her not to wake me up at this time of the morning. She thinks she can take me on...'' Ms Gordon said that she was only trying to make the point that if the Government made an error it could affect the viability of the Country.

Dame Lois then took the floor and said that the bill was a simple one to amend the most restrictive piece of legislation on the books.

Middle managers had been fooled for years into thinking that they were making important decisions. Now they realised that they were not part of the establishment.

Attacking the assertion that the amendment would put off big business, she said: "Capital will take flight wherever it suits. It doesn't mean we're going to give up on the freedom of our people to associate.

"We respect the rights of people to invest in Bermuda and they must respect the rights of labour. If Bermuda still has the infrastructure and friendly people and no income tax, then they will come.'' But Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons attacked the amendment as another nail in the coffin for a country struggling with an uncompetitive tourist industry.

He said: "This will increase the rigidity of the labour markets in Bermuda.

We have a 15 percent gratuity in restaurants, a transport problem and hotels with room service which doesn't serve all night.'' Tourism Minister David Allen said the amendment would be positive in the tourism industry.

He said: "There are many people employed in the tourism industry, not just at the grass roots but middle management who don't feel they have a stake in the industry and they don't feel they have representation, there's a policy of divide and rule.'' He said there would be better service if tourism managers felt part of the mainstream and were "getting their piece of the pie''.

Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox said the bill would give a legacy of hope. She rebutted suggestions that Government hadn't consulted employers. "When you consult it doesn't mean you will necessarily agree -- Government has to govern.'' She added that the bill was a safety valve rather than a way of life for management: "It's helpful to know they have a port in a storm.'' The bill then passed by a vote of 19-9 and will now go to the Senate.

Paula Cox