decades. In the latest installment of his series on labour in Bermuda, reporter John Burchall examines the Electricity Supply Trade Union (ESTU).

Imagine an organisation where top management officials meet regularly with union leaders and discuss issues in the absence of acrimony, finger-pointing and loud voices.

And consider that the same organisation, with 400 workers, of which 282 are represented by the union, has won 14 two-year agreements without recourse to any form of industrial action.

Sound too good to be true? Some people view the Bermuda Electric Light Company's Electricity Supply Trade Union (ESTU) as a model after which other unions should pattern themselves.

Others view it as a puppet of management with no independent authority.

Where does the truth lie? That depends to some extent on who is speaking but one thing is clear. Belco has struck a balance between the needs of management and the needs of the workers.

"We are a pretty good operation if you look at our environment,'' Belco president and chief executive officer Mr. Garry Madeiros said. "Our success often gets embellished when you set it against other companies' difficulties, but we feel we have the right touch.

Industrial relations, he said, "are a never ending track. It is a continuous process of working together, being honest and understanding so that mutually beneficial conclusions can be reached.'' Mr. Madeiros said Belco's management approach all negotiations with one goal, which is to do whatever is in the long-term best interest of the company.

Anything short of that, he said, and "we risk disenfranchising ourselves or the workers.

"We try to ensure that both sides feel they have succeeded and that no side is better off than the other. We do not try to outdo the other.

"I am fortunate to have taken over an organisation with a good management and union relationship.

"We have one common problem and that is to ensure that we all keep our jobs and that depends on how Belco performs.'' Mr. Madeiros said that management and the ESTU agreed to move away from the traditional adversarial method of contract negotiations to one called interest-based bargaining, based on the needs of both parties.

"Management are interested in running the company while the union wants to protect its members' jobs. We sit down in sub-committees made up of union and management representatives and we look at the financial aspects of the company.

"Once this is done, management and the ESTU are operating from the same information. As a result we are able to come to the table with a handful of issues not demands.'' ESTU president Mr. Maynard Dill endorsed this view.

"Our success comes from our belief that we are two parties engaged in a relationship and we don't do things to create strife. The ESTU like management and the shareholders are interested in profits.

"If the company is profitable then we can get better wages and benefits for our members.

Mr. Dill said the recent Labour Summit allowed the ESTU and management to reassess the way they have been operating. With the help of a mediator from Michigan State University, they took a three-day seminar.

Since that time they have become adherents of interest-based bargaining which he said is a major reason why a settlement to the current contract negotiations will be reached soon.

"The interest-based bargaining model requires us to sit down with management to talk out issues. But it begins with a discussion of what exactly is an issue.

"After that we are able to arrive at the table knowing what is going to be talked about and what is going to be left out. The ground rules and time frames are also already set out, so nothing is left to chance.

"This means that negotiations take place in an amicable manner free of skepticism because most of the work is done prior to us sitting down around the table.'' Mr. Dill said another key to their success is a willingness on the part of management to discuss problems as they arise instead of waiting for the next negotiating session.

"We know it is a worker's democratic right to withdraw their labour but we do not feel it is something we will use at Belco. Things need to be solved at the table. Our aim is to keep our members where they should be which is at their desks or out in the field.

"That's where our main interests lie.'' The Belco model, despite its apparent success, has its critics. They argue that its achievements derive from the company's unique position as a profitable monopoly that conducts its labour relations in secret.

Mr. Madeiros disagreed. While not denying his company's enviable profitability -- it earned more than $12 million last fiscal year -- he said comparisons must be fair.

"We do exist in the real world,'' he said. "The hotels exist under a different environment which means that they have different problems. But Belco compares favourably with other utilities and organisations such as the banks because they are all in the same environment.'' The Bermuda Telephone company until very recently enjoyed monopoly status and profitability. However that did not prevent labour disputes from erupting last year.

In the end, a dispute between unionised workers and management had to be sent to binding arbitration.

"We are not Einsteins over here on the third floor,'' Mr. Madeiros said. "We do not have all the ideas or solutions and we take any help that we can get.

We make profits and invest in our employees which is something others are doing as well.'' Said Mr. Dill: "We talk, talk, consult, consult and compromise.'' Currently, Belco and its workers are discussing a new two-year contract for its clerical and industrial workers whose present collective agreement ends on January 5, 1996. All indications point to a resolution months before that date arrives.