to a Government board ruling which said hotel workers should not receive increased tips for 1992.

BIU hotel workers have been called to a 3 p.m. meeting today at union headquarters, to be followed by a 4.30 p.m. news conference.

Union officials met yesterday to discuss Monday's award of the Essential Industries Dispute Settlement Board, chaired by Mr. Arnold Zack.

"The Zack report has been read and discussed at the committee stage and, on the face of it, we believe that the board has made a gross error, which we will explain to the meeting and to the Press,'' BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP said yesterday.

Earlier, the BIU had estimated hotel workers were owed "hundreds of thousands of dollars'' in lost tips. But the Board did not support that position.

It was the third time a panel of the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board had been asked to resolve the gratuities dispute.

Mr. Zack's board said it endorsed the finding of the two earlier boards, "denying increased gratuity payments for the year 1992-93''.

On another matter, the board ruled Hotel Employers of Bermuda members were bound by contracts the HEB agreed to, whether the individual members signed the agreements or not.

Mr. John Harvey, executive director of the HEB, said he hoped the latest ruling would end the dispute.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said yesterday it would be "premature'' for him to say much while the parties were considering their positions.

"I would hope that the parties are willing to live with that decision,'' he said. "It's been something that's been ongoing now for a long, long time.'' Government is trying to find out what workers and bosses really think.

It hopes it will get clues about how to solve deadlocked disputes.

Crucial relationships between employees and management are stalemated, said Mr. Pearman.

On Monday and Tuesday, 400 people in the public and private sectors will be asked to complete an hour-long questionnaire.

They will include senior managers, supervisors, union officials and ordinary workers.

Mr. Pearman asked people to cooperate with the survey, which was a "vital step in helping to improve industrial relations''.

There was a lack of information on the subject, he said, which forced people to make decisions based on assumptions.

"We are seeking to fill in all the gaps so that we can establish a solid foundation for any future sessions and deliberations.'' The retreat meeting a year ago, involving Government, unions and management, had exposed frustrations and generated "a mixture of enthusiasm and scepticism''.

There had been an increase in training and consultation since the retreat, but there had also been "stalemate in a number of pivotal labour-management relationships''.

The survey will be supervised by Prof. Terry Curry of Michigan State University.

University experts are also working with Government on a second retreat in July, further meetings and training for a team of mediators.