When I became part of the executive about 18 months ago, as third vice-president, I made it my goal to become president ? I just didn't think it would happen this fast.: Yes, it's a great responsibility. And you've got to remember that when things go wrong it's the president and when things go right, it's the team!: Since about 1997, I've been rising through the ranks. I started off as shop steward, then I became vice-president of my division ? we have 15 divisions and mine is Health & Family Services. I was the vice-chair for many years and then I became the chairperson.: First and foremost, I'd like everyone to be vigilant when it comes to promoting the collective agreement.: What I'm saying is don't wait for the manager to bring something on you, know your collective agreement. Be vigilant.: We're going to go through some trying times. What we basically do is workers' representation. Most companies these days think like a union. People get holidays and maternity leave, for example. It's just that many workers are not formally under a union body. So I have to take my hat off to the forefathers of the Union, because they have created so many avenues.Basically, the secretariat, the engine room of the Union, is in charge of negotiations. So that would be the general secretary and his assistant in charge of the negotiations that we oversee. Negotiations with management, that's the easy part. The hard part is negotiating with the members. That's our difficult task.

Of course, we want to come out with win-win situations. And the management generally wants to foster a good relationship with us.

: The cost of living is sky high and everything's going up. I think what we have to focus on in future is getting more benefits with financial value, as opposed to getting a three per cent raise. Getting the employers to pay more of the insurance, for example, would put that money back in our members' pockets. It's not just in Government. It's also TBI, Cable & Wireless, BTC, US Air, American Airlines, Bermuda College and others.

In a negotiation, once both sides have agreed, we have to go back to the membership and get it ratified. Then we can sign the collective agreement.

: It's difficult. On Sunday, I was in my yard doing some odds and ends and a member who lives in the neighbourhood came down to my house with a problem and I told her I would speak to the person responsible for her division and get back to her. It's impossible to say how much time it takes up.

Generally speaking, I try to schedule all my Government work from early morning until about 3 p.m. and then do Union work from then on.

Yes, the plan is for a five-storey building. I need to sit down with my new executive and come up with a plan. Then I will have to go back to the membership and get ratification. There would be car parking at the bottom, then a retail area, a floor for offices, a gym and spa, some accommodations, probably about eight small guest units, and up top, a restaurant and a conference room.

We have to go this route because we can't continue to survive on Union dues alone. What happens if 1,000 people decide not to continue being a member of the Union?

While we're in good shape, like we are now, we have to look out for those rainy days. I hope it doesn't come to that, but we have to be realistic.

: Yes, we would be landlords and the income would allow us to pay off the building. We have the land and the space for it at our Union headquarters on Cedar Avenue, so we should do it. Once we get the okay from the membership, I'm thinking it should be completed within a year. I have to sit down with the officers and see what their goals are and we can go forward from there.

What I'm hoping is that this executive will be the strongest the Union has ever had. Everybody will be up to speed and have the same training that I had. I can't be president for life and I don't want to be. I can see the leaders in the new executive and I want them to be up to speed.

: Yes, we have to change with the times. In the past, we used to be talking about segregation and issues like that. We have to change and we can't have the same mind-set we had years ago or nothing will get done.: Yes, for the security of the members. What I'm saying is that we have to change with the times. You can't get the sledgehammer out all of the time. What we like to do is negotiate and, if necessary, go to arbitration and if necessary, take industrial action.

We like to talk across the table and we get results that way. We may come across as being soft in so many ways, but, in actual fact, we get a lot of things done that way, rather than by striking first.

Exempt companies and others should actually be paying us a fee for keeping everything running on a smooth basis. We like to talk first and if it came to action, we have members that I'm sure would stick together. But we only hit the streets if things don't get done.

: I started off as a trainee officer, coming here straight from university and did some training in England as well. Basically, we analyse water and make sure it's potable and analyse sea water and make sure it's safe to swim in.

We inspect restaurants, beauty salons, barber shops, do air quality control. We also oversee all the nursery schools in Bermuda. We also look at plans for new places, particularly things such as the piping. We also inspect meat ? we have one abattoir here, in Somerset. So we're a jack of all trades, but we have to be master of them all too!

I've been working here since about 1996. Things have changed drastically because we have more cars on the street these days.

There are many changes linked with culture as well. For example, we have many more guest workers from countries which don't have the same kitchen standards as we do here. We have a course called BCK (Bermuda Clean Kitchens) that we do with Bermuda College, which I would recommend to anyone. A lot of the guest workers do take this course and are fabulous once they have taken the course and received the certificate.

Also there's more building ? I've never done so many plumbing jobs in my life. In an average month, we are now getting 25 to 30 plumbing inspection jobs.

Officers take care of different parishes ? I'm responsible for Paget and Warwick.

Water. A lot of people choose to buy bottled water rather than maintain their own supply. One Public Health Week, I took four Pure Water bottles and labelled them A, B, C and D. I put four different types of water, Government water, Watlington Waterworks water, Pure Water and my tank water, which represented the public supply. The only thing I do is put Clorox in my tank every three months.

Most people could distinguish between Government and Watlington, but they thought my water was the Pure Water. And it just goes to show that all you have to do is maintain your own water supply and it will be fine.

I'm not against bottled water, but I'm saying people can easily maintain their own supply. People are getting up to speed and installing charcoal filters. But you still have in Bermudians' minds that they shouldn't have to put Clorox in the water.

But it can kill the micro-organisms in the tank. If it's done at the right level ? about half a cup for every 1,000 gallons, it'll taste of chlorine a little but it will be doing its job.

The next question is whether we can put guppies in the tank to eat the algae. The answer is yes, but you can't also put Clorox in because that would kill the fish. Clorox is the cheapest method and that's why we recommend it.

If you took any ten tanks, it's likely that eight of them would not be holding potable water. People just take it for granted the water's okay because it comes out clear. We have a service here that's free to give advice to people, and I encourage anyone to come in. We find from our inspections that the hotels are pretty good. They're all fighting for the Hotel Merit Award. They don't know when an inspector is coming in, so they try to keep up to par at all times.

I'd like to see that system in place for the restaurants. But the restaurants are pretty good here. I've seen much worse in other jurisdictions around the world.

We feel proud that there aren't many people getting sick because that means we're out there doing our job.

And education is a large part of our job. We try to be preventative.

We also have a pest control department, dealing with mosquitoes and rats.

Yes. You can see from my (greying) hair! The music helps and hobbies help too. It's all about time management. I'm very competitive. I play pretty much every sport and I'd like to say that I'm competitive in most of them. That's golf, tennis, football, cricket, even cards.

I play football for the Commercial League team Key West. People often say we're a bunch of ex-stars. We often do well in the first round of cup competitions but then we get a bit too cocky and relaxed. Like I tell people, we won everything in our Premier League days and now we just want to enjoy it. I would always watch a Commercial League match before a Premier game. It's more diverse and there are players from different cultures.

Yes. My wife Sheena, she was my prom partner in high school. We went our separate ways and then I came back. I guess I knew which side my bread was buttered. And I have a son, Amir, who turns three in August.

I don't normally do anything without running it by my wife. If I've got a letter to write, I always run it by her. She was my friend before she was my wife. She's always honest with me and she keeps me grounded.