Nurses at the Island's two hospitals have given notice to strike over claims that management has reneged on promises to improve pay and working conditions.

It is also understood nurses are angry that they have been working without a collective bargaining agreement for 11 months, and they say management has not honoured verbal agreements over pay and conditions from more than a year ago.

Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU), which represents nurses and allied medical staff at the King Edward VII Memorial and St. Brendan's hospitals, has given the Labour Relations Office a 21 day strike notice, the union confirmed yesterday.

Around 500 BPSU staff and Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) will have until September 26 to sort out the dispute or Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister could force them to go to independent arbitrators whose decision would be binding.

As hospital staff are considered essential service workers, the union is barred from discussing details of the dispute after filing strike notice. But confirmation of the union's intention to strike demonstrates the nurses, who have been involved in a series of disputes with BHB over the past two years, still have a strong mistrust of the board.

One nurse told The Royal Gazette last night: "It boils down to a lack of respect from management from both hospitals and we say 'enough is enough'.

"This is the message we are sending. We've been working without a contract for a year and that's not on."

BPSU general secretary Ed Ball said yesterday: "We do have a 21 day strike notice in. I can't make any statement because under the Essential Services Act, only the Minister of Labour can do so."

BHB chief executive Stephanie Reid said yesterday: "I will be meeting various teams in the hospital on the matter and later on I will be able to entertain much more constructive conversations on this matter."

Mr. Lister was off the Island yesterday and acting Labour Minister Sen. David Burch did not return calls for comment.

In December 2000, hundreds of nurses marched through Hamilton in protest at working conditions and pay levels, which they said were far below the United States. In February last year, it was announced nurses had agreed new terms with BHB in which a ten year bonus was returned, guest workers were given pension benefits, and the Continuous Learning Plan, which appraises work performance, was not linked to salary increases.

But the dispute flared up again in April last year after nurses claimed they had not been given the package they thought they had agreed to accept. The nurses thought they had agreed to a two pay scale increase from April, but BHB said it thought the two increases should be one year apart.

And last May, strike action was again averted after BPSU members voted to accept an improved package "in the spirit of true compromise" after the board agreed to pay the two increases in one package.

Mr. Ball said at the time that the settlement was agreed "under duress" and was conditional on meaningful negotiations with the board in the future on pay and conditions. "We accepted this offer for the benefit of our patients and community by avoiding strike action," Mr. Ball said last May.

"We have always acted in an honest manner throughout discussions; therefore, the acceptance is conditional on future negotiations and honest dialogue with the board regarding pay and conditions. We have accepted that the BHB has said it has no money; therefore, while it finds funds, we are not willing to risk any potential harm to patients."