Bus and ferry services will be disrupted for several hours today to allow transport staff time off to attend a union meeting.

A statement from Government Information Services released yesterday said: "The Ministry of Tourism and Transport advised today that on Tuesday February 8, between the hours of 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., bus and ferry services will be interrupted due to a Bermuda Industrial Union general meeting."

But last night BIU president Derrick Burgess insisted that staff were prepared to operate a skeleton transport service during the meeting to keep disruptions to a minimum ? but that idea was rejected by the Public Transport Board.

"All Government workers were meeting to entertain the proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement," Mr. Burgess said.

"We also agreed to leave a skeleton crew for the buses and Marine and Ports, but management at PTB said they were going to close for that time.

"I really can't understand why they are doing that. We are prepared to work, but management doesn't want to."

The meeting is expected to be finished by 1 p.m. and the attendees "should be back to work by 2 p.m. at the latest" Mr. Burgess added.

PTB Director Dan Simmons said: "It was not practical to have skeleton services".