strengthening the union for what has become an increasingly uncertain future.

The meetings, which involve the BIU's general council, were begun in the midst of setbacks that have hurt the union's unity, numbers and pocketbook.

"We're presently discussing what we see for the union in the next few years,'' one top official said. "We want to assess what has gone on in the last few years when employers have been on the attack.'' BIU setbacks include: A Disputes Board report two weeks ago granting Grotto Bay Beach Hotel's "divorce'' from the union.

Pink Beach Club workers voting in December to decertify the union.

Union acceptance of a new hotels contract giving workers less money than the 1991 Hobgood award which the union rejected for technical reasons.

The depletion of union finances. Hotels six-week cancellation of the check-off system plus de-unionising at four hotels has cost the union at least $150,000 in cash revenues.

Union membership dropping to about 4,000 from a high of 6,000 in the 1980s.

The failure of union members to respond in large numbers to a general strike call last year in its bitter dispute with Bermuda Forwarders.

BIU leader Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP, who declined to be interviewed for this story for lack of time, has said his organisation is being "dismembered''.

He has admitted the union is broke and advised members needing financial help to get it from Government's Department of Social Services.

But perhaps his most telling statement occurred in a press conference two weeks ago on when he said he was "shocked at the apathy that permeates the working class''.

Some union officials and observers believe the changing fortunes of the BIU reflect the changing nature of its membership. Separated from basic union struggles by years and, in some cases, by generations, as well as changed by increasing prosperity, workers are less willing to strike.

"As opposed to ten years ago, people's values have changed,'' First vice-president Mr. Derrick Burgess said. "Their kids are at school, they have mortgages. The number of homeowners have increased dramatically.

"It's hard to pull these people. Middle class values have hurt us.'' Mr.

Calvin Smith, who manages the union's Credit Union, agreed.

"They just can't pull their people like they used to,'' he said.

Mr. Smith said the union's fighting spirit has been undermined by the rise of unemployment.

"When Bermuda had full employment you could lose a job at 9 a.m. and have another by 3 p.m. But when the members starts seeing their brothers unemployed for a long time, they get nervous.'' Mr. Alvin Williams, columnist for the union paper The Workers' Voice, has also spotted a change.

"To state that 1992 was a bad year for trade unionism in Bermuda would be an understatement,'' he said at the end of January.

Setbacks for BIU From Page 1 The telling incident was the general strike call in July to support the union's fight with Bermuda Forwarders.

"When the call came to support our union... we almost lost it,'' Mr.

Williams said. He pointed his finger at hotel workers, who comprise the largest block of union membership.

"Somewhere between 1981 and 1992, many in the hotel division forgot what it meant to keep their division strong.

"I think the major problem is the fact that in a lot of areas where we have trade union organisations, we have a lot of new and young workers who did not come up in the earlier struggles.

"Maybe it is time to tell our younger or new working colleagues that, hey, what you may enjoy, as far as working conditions is concerned, was not a given.'' One overseas observer saw a correlation between the BIU's decline and the decline of trade union power in the United States.

"The influence of US unions has diminished tremendously, from 28 percent to about 15 percent of the labour force,'' said the observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"In the past few years, US unions have taken wage cuts. It's not greatly different here. As Bermuda's hotels are linked to the US economy, so is the union linked.'' A big factor in union setbacks has been a newfound determination by managers to fight the union. It is a change of heart closely tied to their hard-pressed balance sheets. In previous years, they have simply given in to union demands because they could be afforded.

Mr. Smith sees the change in terms of an economic cycle where the advantage has simply swung to management.

"The history of trade unionism in periods of economic hardship is that the will of the members weakens,'' he said. "There is the need to feed families.

Employers know this and they are willing to exploit it. It's not as if they've got stronger. It's just a businessman's wicket.'' But interviews with hoteliers also indicate they became fed up with the union's leadership, particularly with its shock rejection of the 1991 Hobgood Award for a hotels contract.

One senior Government source said of the union and its misfortunes: "They brought it on themselves.

"When they rejected Hobgood after giving their word, the employers lost patience. The union's word was no longer its bond.

"People started to not want to deal with the union. Hoteliers with a chance to opt out, started to opt out.'' There is a charge that the union also lost credibility when it struck against Bermuda Forwarders in 1991 after a deal had been arranged by the Government labour relations officer.

Employers have since questioned the wisdom of union leaders whose decisions, they say, created unnecessary disputes and whose positions were taken without recognition of the depressed economy.

"I think the basic reason the union is in a weakened position is that its hierarchy has lost touch with reality,'' said lawyer Mr. Alan Dunch, who represented Grotto Bay in its dispute with the union.

"Until this is recognised, it is most unfortunate because trade unionism is important for democracy.'' Mr. Smith, on the other hand, defends the union's leaders as no less able than their predecessors. They haven't changed.

"The union is the sum of its membership,'' he said. "It's a democratic organisation. And, contrary to what people say, it is obviously not Otti's play thing. If it was, it wouldn't matter what other conditions existed.'' One union official this week indicated the union's leaders were simply being overwhelmed. Work was backlogged, he said.

A Government officer who has been involved with labour for many years said the union was in need of fresh thinking.

"Every organisation needs an infusion of young talent every now and then,'' he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They probably made a mistake of not bringing in new, young graduates. But if you haven't come up through the ranks, or from the shop floor they don't recognise. You need to earn your spurs.'' His assessment of the union's current situation was blunt.

"This is probably the biggest crisis the union has been through,'' he said.

"They are on the run.''