prevent employees from getting union representation.

But last night Labour Minister Quinton Edness said a tripartite coalition had been set up to do just that.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) senior specialist for workers' activities in the Caribbean region, George DePeana, is in Bermuda to be honoured during a banquet put on by the Bermuda Public Services Association.

Mr. DePeana, who will soon retire, told The Royal Gazette that it was time to change legislation and make it possible for those workers who were denied union representation to obtain it.

They were prevented from joining now by the "obstinate attitude of employers'' but recognition of union representation should be "automatic''.

These obstacles needed to be removed with new legislation so unions could continue to strive toward better human and industrial relationships.

Mr. Edness agreed that there was nothing in law which stated that employers had to recognise requests from their staff to seek union representation.

The matter was now being considered by the Labour Advisory Council which was made up of representatives from the Bermuda Industrial Union, Government and Government agencies.

The committee would put together recommendations and, if necessary, Government would amend the law to achieve them.

Once it was in law, employers would have to recognise their employees' requests, he said.

Mr. Edness said in the past most employers had recognised their employees' wishes but recently there had been a few who had denied them.

But the problem had raised its head, he added, and had to be dealt with one way, or another.

Mr. Edness said when the matter was resolved, it would go a long way toward adding to the peace and tranquility between workers and management.

BPSA general secretary Mr. Eugene Blakeney said the Bermuda Industrial Union's past president Ottiwell Simmons would also be recognised during the banquet at the Elbow Beach Hotel on Saturday.

Mr. DePeana, who paid tribute to the leaders of the Island's unions, said public perceptions of the union had to be changed.

People had to realise that the union was concerned with issues that impinged on society, not just workplace conditions.

He said a council had to be developed which would bring all the union's voices together as one so they could speak authoritatively for all workers.