callous management.

They claim their lives have been thrown into turmoil because bosses have not signed a labour contract.

And they fear management will slash holiday and sick leave pay, and cut working hours.

But yesterday the company's president the Wor. Henry Hayward, Mayor of St.

George's, refused to give any work guarantees.

He said he did not intend signing the Bermuda Industrial Union contract because of the firm's cash problems.

"I have not signed any contract for the past three years because I cannot honour any benefits set out in the agreement.'' Seven men from the firm's Slip Road machine shop and boat yard staged a peaceful three-hour sit-in at Meyer Agencies in Church Street, Hamilton. Some hung outside.

Among them were welders, machinists, boat operators, carpenters, and shipwrights.

They say they came to meet Mr. Hayward to urge him to sign the collective bargaining agreement.

But when he arrived and saw them, he left the building.

Mr. Calvert Bean, BIU negotiator and education officer, accused management of being "callous and bull-headed''.

The Meyer Industries workers had devoted 196 years between them to the firm, he said.

They had sacrificed their lives for the company, and were entitled to benefits.

Mr. Bean said management and the BIU had agreed a 6.5 percent 1992 wage deal.

And a wage freeze for 1993 had been settled.

The collective agreement -- still not signed by management -- also included terms and conditions, said Mr. Bean.

But now bosses intended cutting vacation pay for those who had been at the firm 20 years or more.

It would go down from five weeks to two weeks. And sick leave would be slashed from six weeks to just two weeks, it was feared.

Mr. Bean said management also planned not to guarantee a minimum 40-hour working week.

"The guys here are really concerned about their welfare, particularly those who have been over 20 years at the company.

"They cannot believe the directors will be that callous.'' Mr. Bean said the workers realised the effects of the recession, and had recently been on a three-day week.

"They have already suffered, but are now back on five days,'' added Mr. Bean.

"Management, however, now want the guys to be on an `on call' basis where they are only paid when called to work.'' Mr. Bean said the men had wanted to meet management face-to-face yesterday morning to find out where they stood.

"We are sitting here to register our protest. It is quite peaceful and we are not disrupting anyone.'' Mr. Jade Minors, a welder for 23 years, said management was "pulling the rug'' from under workers.

"We have sacrificed our lives for the firm,'' he said, adding most of the workers were in their late 40s or early 50s.

Mr. Peter Cabral, a welder for 29 years, said: "The mood here is one of total frustration.'' One of the longest serving workers is Mr. Ashton Fox, a carpenter for 31 years.

"We want all this uncertainty over our futures removed,'' he said.

Mr. Hayward said he had agreed to meet Mr. Bean and the union shop steward yesterday morning -- and not the workers.

"I told them I was not willing to meet all of them,'' said Mr. Hayward.

He added the workers had "no business'' occupying Meyer Agencies -- a separate firm from Meyer Industries, which employs ten people.

Mr. Hayward said he had planned to meet the union representatives at BIU headquarters early next week.

SITTING TIGHT -- Meyers Industries workers demonstrate their anger during a sit-in at Meyer Agencies yesterday.