over Bermuda's troubled hotel industry.

Dr. Leo Troy slammed ministers for relying on arbitration to bring industrial peace.

He accused them of putting the skids under the best means of resolution -- collective bargaining.

Dr. Troy also fired broadsides at the Bermuda Industrial Union and management.

He said the BIU leadership destroyed its credibility by placing astronomical pay demands on the table.

Management, meanwhile, needed to be far more assertive in negotiations, he added.

Both parties should share blame for the current negotiating logjam.

Dr. Troy told The Royal Gazette last night: "I find it quite deplorable the way labour relations here are being handled.'' He went on: "Collective bargaining has atrophied. It is not dead, but moving in that direction. It will become a museum exhibit.'' The professor has elaborated his arguments in a hard-hitting article, The Bermuda Quagmire.

Sub-titled Bermuda's Public Utility System of Labour Relations, it is to appear in the American journal, The Government Union Review.

The right-wing journal -- published by The Public Service Research Foundation -- is available in American libraries.

Copies will also be distributed in Bermuda.

Dr. Troy, who has previously spoken in Bermuda on labour relations, now plans a follow-up article, incorporating Government's recent legislation to combat industrial strife.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette yesterday during a brief visit to the Island, he focussed on private sector negotiating, particularly in hotels.

"The hotels are the centrepiece of the Island's economy,'' he said.

Dr. Troy said Government should take the lion's share of blame for "strangling'' collective bargaining.

It was entirely wrong to place contract talks in the laps of arbitrators -- such as the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board.

Dr. Troy said market forces should be allowed principally to determine pay levels.

"Winston Churchill once said democracy was the worst form of government, except for all the others,'' he said.

"You could say markets are the worst form of organising resource allocation, except for all the others.'' Dr. Troy said "final offer arbitration'' would be a step forward.

This involved an arbitrator plumping for either management's offer or the union's demands.

"It would introduce responsibility and discipline. It would stop a union putting forward a ridiculous demand.

"I don't, however, recommend this as the best means of resolving disputes.

Collective bargaining is still the most preferable.'' Dr. Troy said Government needed to take a leaf out of former British Prime Minister Mrs. Mrs. Margaret Thatcher's book.

It should legally enforce secret postal ballots for the election of union officers.

Dr. Troy went on to call for employers to show more initiative.

They needed to improve communications with the workforce, and spell out clearly their negotiating position.

"The union should not be the sole source of information for workers.'' Dr. Leo Troy.