officials presented the Bermuda Hospitals Board with a strike notice yesterday.

But the two sides in the dispute at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital have nearly a month to resolve numerous staff concerns before any industrial action begins.

And, even if staff demands have not been met by the deadline, Labour and Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox could still step in and order that no strike action be taken.

A spokeswoman for the Bermuda Hospitals Board last night confirmed that the Bermuda Public Service Association had issued management with an industrial action notice.

"Basically we have a week to try and sit down and resolve these issues,'' the spokeswoman said.

"If they feel that no progress has been made by then, then the 21 day notice will start.'' Talks between BHB and BPSA officials are expected to begin later today. The dispute centres around the introduction of a new staff structure last year which resulted in ten senior nurses losing their jobs. Although two of the ten have now accepted alternative positions at the hospital and another four have taken early retirement, the remaining four are demanding a redundancy pay-off.

Other concerns include a lack of communication over the implementation of the programme manager scheme and a row over uniform regulations.

BHB chairman Raymonde Dill yesterday called a staff meeting in a bid to re-establish communication links with disgruntled nurses.

"It was a very tough meeting which gave everybody the opportunity to put their cards on the table,'' the spokeswoman said.

But one nurse, who did not want to be named, said: "It wasn't particularly reassuring.

"They didn't really say anything and a lot of people are still very annoyed.

It's not just a problem with the four nurses who want a redundancy package. We feel that this whole programme management thing has been thrown at us. We also think that, although it was meant to open up opportunities for us, there's now no chance of career development.

"That's why morale is so low and people are resigning. People just don't want to work here anymore.'' The breakdown in communication between management and staff was illustrated when Mr. Dill confessed to being surprised on reading in yesterday's Royal Gazette that strike action was a possibility.

"I have to start by saying that when I heard that the nurses were going to strike I was very surprised and also confused,'' he said.

"We met with the eight nurses yesterday to discuss a way forward. From my perspective the discussions went well. I certainly understand some of the feelings they expressed and concerns they had. They also gave me the courtesy of listening to the board's position and understood the need to bring this to a speedy conclusion.

"After coming to some agreement and making a major step forward I was surprised to see the nurses agreeing to strike.

Editorial: Page 4 Hospital, nurses facing deadine "We have staff shortages and we find it incredible that we should be considering redundancies.'' Mr. Dill added that the Board was taking the threat of industrial action "very seriously'' and that talks would be held to try and get the matters resolved. He said he planned to contact BPSA assistant general secretary Stephen Emery later in the day.

Last night Labour and Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox said that, for the moment, her Ministry was taking a watching brief on the situation.

"Right now things are at a critical phase but both parties are talking and working towards finding a resolution,'' the Minister said.

"It seems that both parties are talking in good faith and hopefully good sense and reason will prevail.

"The Ministry may have to step in and resolve if talks break down. Under the legislative arm of the Labour Relations Act the nurses should not be going on strike as an essential service.

"But at the moment we're letting the parties get on with it. I think a communication has been received by the board and there's a fair indication that there are issues and grievances and things are not going well but the important thing is that both parties are talking to each other.'' UNIONS UNS