Bermuda's largest grocery chain - MarketPlace - may find itself pulled before the Labour Relations Board after failing to comply with an arbitration award which ordered the chain to provide stools for its cashiers.

Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) president Derrick Burgess told The Royal Gazette last night the union had been pressuring MarketPlace for some time to provide seating for the cashiers - who spend upwards of five hours daily on their feet - but the chain would not budge.

"Standing up for long periods of time puts strain on one's back and legs and can cause problems with these areas and with veins.

"MarketPlace would not get the stools, so it was sent to arbitration. It went in June of this year and we won. They voted in our favour for stools to be provided."

The arbitration tribunal heard the matter and made its majority award in July, but cashiers are still standing almost three months later.

Mr. Burgess said that while some MarketPlace cashiers are unionised, others are not. The union sees the issue as one of workplace health and safety.

He said that the stools should have been in place by now.

"There are specific stools for different heights and I don't know if we have these in Bermuda," he said. "But we said they've got to put some kind of interim measure in place and that's not been done yet."

Since, the grocery chain has not complied with the arbitration award, Mr. Burgess said the Labour Relations Board has been approached about the matter.

"Cashiers at other markets such as Miles and Supermart are provided with stools," Mr. Burgess said pointing out MarketPlace cashiers are not asking for anything unusual.

The decision of the arbitration panel was reported in yesterday's edition of the Workers Voice, which said the tribunal which heard the debate consisted of Shirley Simmons (chair), Sandra Cann Butterfield and Eugene Blakeney and voted two to one in favour of the union's position.

The news sheet said MarketPlace was represented by attorney Alan Dunch and argued that the issue of stools was not a matter of Health and Safety but rather one of quality of work.

The supermarket claimed the matter should be determined through collective agreement.

The Workers Voice said both the union and MarketPlace called witnesses before the panel to support their position and while one woman who had been a cashier for over 16 years without a stool complained of constant pain in her spine, feet and shoulders, a chain manager who was a cashier for 15 years said stools hampered employees' work effectiveness.

The news sheet said one member of the panel - Ms Butterfield - was sympathetic to the supermarket's position, but the other two said the chain's image and service quality could be satisfied while protecting the working conditions of employees.