Bermuda Industrial Union President Chris Furbert has warned that further industrial action by workers cannot be ruled out unless Government starts showing the union respect.At a press conference yesterday announcing that Marine & Ports staff were returning to work after a two-day walkout, the BIU chief blamed Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell for the dispute, and said that it was not the BIU’s responsibility to instigate better dialogue with Government.Despite agreeing with Government that more ferries are needed to cope with increased passenger demand this summer, ferry workers walked out on the job on Wednesday after the BIU was unable to get detailed answers from Government about a planned ferry charter.And yesterday Mr Furbert said that Government needed to improve it communication with the union in order to prevent further disruptions.“I do not have a crystal ball — I cannot guarantee that,” Mr Furbert said when asked if no further industrial action will take place in the future.The BIU leader blasted Mr Crockwell for failing to respond in person to an e-mail sent out by Mr Furbert on Wednesday morning, which warned the Minister of possible industrial action.Mr Crockwell passed that e-mail on to a senior Civil Servant to deal with, rather than replying himself.Claiming such action was a further sign of disrespect, Mr Furbert said: “Do you realise that no Minister responded to the letter that I sent, even though it was crystal clear that something was going to happen?”Mr Furbert speculated what Mr Crockwell’s reaction would have been had the union leader treated a letter from the Minister in the same manner.“I wrote that letter to your boss — I want to hear from him, I don’t want to hear from you,” he suggested.He also complained that the Minister had failed never made a courtesy call on the union since his appointment in December.When asked if the BIU had instigated similar overtures, Mr Furbert replied: “You are asking the BIU to lead by example? Government should be the ones leading by example.”And he criticised Mr Crockwell for incorrectly quoting the union’s motto — ‘United we stand, divided we fall’.When Mr Crockwell made reference to that rallying cry yesterday morning, he mistakenly said: “United we stand but divided we fall.”“The Minister put a ‘but’ in there,” Mr Furbert said. “If you are going to quote the motto, do not make a mockery of it.“If you want to have a better relationship, there has to be better understanding. If you want to have better understanding, there has to be better communication.”In the House of Assembly earlier, Mr Crockwell said Government had recognised the need to increase ferry services following “a deficit of public transportation during critical times” last summer.The Royal Gazette understands that two of six fast ferries are currently out of action because of maintenance issues.In addition, two of Government’s three tugs are non-operational. And this week it was revealed that the Ministry of Transport spent an additional $3.6 million on unforeseen overtime, fuel and spare parts for public transport.“Many of the challenges last summer were due to maintenance issues with our ferry fleet, but given the arrivals this year, it was clear to my technical officers that even if the fleet was operating at 100 percent, we would still need more lift in order to manage our tourists, while maintaining our normal ferry service for residents throughout the summer,” Mr Crockwell said.The Minister added that the issue was discussed with the union on January 30 and at a subsequent meeting with Marine & Ports division head Sinclair Samuels.“There was only agreement — no conflict,” Mr Crockwell said adding that the union’s actions this week had been deliberately uncooperative.“I regret that, instead of celebrating the solution and asking how the union could benefit, they only sought a way to disrupt,” the Minister said.Responding to those remarks, Mr Samuels agreed that additional craft would be needed to cope with increased demand this summer, but added that it was “misleading” for Mr Crockwell to claim that details of the plan had been discussed and were fully supported by the union.“We had been trying to get time with the Minister since early January to find out about these rumours,” Mr Samuels said.“There was an unscheduled meeting and there was no agreement at that meeting.“The only thing that we said was that, if you didn’t bring in some kind of vessel it would be crazy because the current vessels wouldn’t make it. There was no agreement at all.”After repeatedly failing to get detailed information on the charter, the BIU e-mailed a list of questions to Mr Crockwell on Wednesday morning, saying that services could be disrupted if answers were not received within 24 hours.Mr Crockwell immediately advised the Acting Director of Marine & Ports of the situation and a meeting between the director and the BIU took place on Thursday morning. Nevertheless, the civil servant was unable to answer all of the union’s questions and the walkout followed.Mr Samuels said that there had been ongoing concerns about the condition of Government’s stock of ferries for at least three years.“We do have major issues with them,” Mr Samuels said. “If we had had all our fast ferries working — which we haven’t had for three years — then we wouldn’t need to bring in additional lift. That’s the part that management is not getting.”