Union president Ottiwell Simmons at a special banquet at the weekend.

Derrick Burgess, current BIU chief, was among those who spoke at the Saturday night Southampton Princess dinner to mark Mr. Simmons' more than 20 years at the helm of the union.

Mr. Burgess said: "Otti doesn't like people making a lot of fuss over him -- he is quite modest.

"But he was quite pleased and quite happy. It was not something he wanted but I think he enjoyed and appreciated it.'' And Mr. Burgess added trade unionists from the UK, the Caribbean and the USA joined with their Bermudian colleagues to honour Mr. Simmons, who remains a Progressive Labour Party MP.

Mr. Simmons retired in March this year after the biannual conference of the union, which also marked the BIU's 50th anniversary.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness said: "He spent 40 years in the union, some 21 years as its president.

"He brought about conditions that not only benefited union members, but all of us in the workplace in Bermuda.

"He brought about a consciousness among employers in the Country that they must look after their employees, which wasn't always the case 25 years ago.

Mr. Edness also paid tribute to Mr. Simmons' vision in pioneering the BIU building, the Co-op and the credit union.

And he said: "He is a man of great integrity and a man you can trust. When you have a private conversation with him and he says he is going to do something, he will do it.'' Mr. Edness added, however, that one of Mr. Simmons' greatest attributes was his compassion.

He said: "What a lot of people don't know about him is that he spends a great deal of time working on individuals' problems.'' Mr. Edness credited Mr. Simmons with taking the "fledgling'' BIU and turning it into "a very stable institution''.

And he said: "Although we don't have the same views politically, I can with confidence say he is a dear friend of mine.'' Around 400 people attended Saturday night's dinner, including Curtis Augustus of the Caribbean Congress of Labour, the Rev. Louis Chase of Los Angeles, California, Jim Butler, a hospitals union rep from New York and Ulf Asp of the Swiss-based international federation of woodworkers, IFBWW.

Former PLP deputy leader and the party's labour and home affairs spokesman Alex Scott said yesterday that he emphasised that, while Mr. Simmons had been given "a hard time'' and a negative press at times, he had made a largely unrecognised but tremendous sacrifice for his union work.

He said: "It was a tremendous sacrifice in terms of time spent serving labour and the cause of organised labour and the time away from his family.

"He chose to be a labour leader -- but for those who say he was well-paid for it, I make the point that no amount of pay or salary is equal to the sacrifice and cost to his family.

"In that regard, we know Ottiwell Simmons a tremendous debt.''