turmoil -- was unjustified, a tribunal has ruled.

Mr. Lynn Darrell's dismissal from Bermuda Forwarders was linked to his union activities, it was declared.

And the Pembroke trucking company has been ordered to pay him 10 weeks pay in compensation.

The firm -- said to have had a bitter relationship with the Bermuda Industrial Union -- was rapped for its dealings with Mr. Darrell.

But the Trade Dispute Tribunal ruled 15 workers who staged a sympathy strike over Mr. Darrell's firing should not be reinstated or compensated.

The tribunal stated it was bound by an earlier Supreme Court ruling the workers flouted their contracts when they went on strike.

The findings are legally binding.

And they should put the seal on a marathon row which plunged the Island into industrial chaos last summer.

The BIU started a wave of strike action which forced Government to step in.

Mr. Darrell, shop steward and the firm's senior helper, was given his marching orders on September 6 1991.

The Mills Creek company complained he was insubordinate, abusive towards management, and had an appalling absenteeism record.

For example, he was absent from work 27 times between January and August 1990, it was claimed.

And despite warnings -- verbal and written -- he failed to improve.

He was finally fired after taking time off work to go to the Bermuda Monetary Authority without permission.

The company said Mr. Darrell claimed he had a doctor's appointment -- a point disputed by the union.

Operations Manager Ms Valerie Simmons handed him a notice accusing him of "dishonesty or stealing'' for receiving paid time off.

Fifteen colleagues staged a sympathy strike on September 26, 1991, but returned to work the next day after guarantees Mr. Darrell's firing would be looked into.

But on October 1, 1991, the men struck again without notice -- allegedly over comments by management in a Royal Gazette article.

The company treated the strike as an act of resignation, refusing to reemploy the workers.

The disputes were sent to Prof. Ronald Haughton's non-binding inquiry board, which backed Mr. Darrell's firing, but urged the 15 men be rehired.

Management refused, triggering stoppages throughout the Country, and forcing Government to set up a legally-binding tribunal.

Bermuda Forwarders tried in the Supreme Court to stop its dispute being sent to the new board.

But the court upheld the referral.

It also declared the 15 men had flouted their contracts by their October 1 action, and the firm was entitled to consider they had resigned.

This ruling was accepted by the new tribunal, findings of which have just been released.

But the tribunal criticised the company over Mr. Darrell's dismissal.

It ordered he be compensated with 10 weeks pay -- at the weekly rate he was receiving just before his firing.

"Viewed as a whole, including the adversarial relationship between the company and the union, which, in many ways, transcended the relationship between Darrell and the company, the tribunal finds that Lynn Darrell's termination was not for just cause,'' the tribunal ruled.

It agreed there was friction between the company and the BIU for most of 1991 and 1992.

"This was brought about in part when the company changed its structure, which the union perceived as an attempt to abolish the union and/or diminish its influence.

"The events which transpired after the termination of Darrell clearly bear out that a very adversarial, and perhaps bitter, relationship existed between the company and union.

"The tribunal's view, the company's sentiment toward the union was carried over, and was manifest, in its dealings with Darrell.'' The tribunal ruled Mr. Darrell was treated mildly for disciplinary problems before he became chief shop steward.

But after his appointment, management came down hard, slapping five disciplinary notices on him in September and October 1990.

The final written warning followed a Royal Gazette story in which Mr. Darrell accused the company's general manager Mr. Sam Arbuthnot of trying to get rid of unionised workers.

"In the tribunal's opinion, nothing could have a greater chilling effect on Darrell, the union and its members than to threaten an officer with dismissal for voicing an opinion, not of an egregious nature, in a newspaper article.'' The tribunal added: "Darrell's discipline and termination was not restricted solely to his conduct and performance as an employee, but was directly related to his role and conduct as a union officer.'' Although Mr. Darrell's record for lateness and absenteeism was bad, dismissal was not justified. Some other punishment was appropriate.

"The tribunal finds that the company failed to follow a consistent progressive discipline approach.'' It continued: "Further in those instances where the company did take disciplinary action with respect to Darrell's absenteeism, it was inconsistent and it imposed a higher standard upon him than that permitted by the collective agreement.'' Mr. Toby Kempe, president of Bermuda Forwarders, declined to comment on the tribunal's ruling.

Mr. Alan Dunch, lawyer for the company, said: "I frankly was surprised at the board's decision with respect to Lynn Darrell which candidly I think is perverse.

"The weight of evidence was such that in my mind it was clear that the company was left with no alternative but to dismiss him.

"Indeed Prof. Haughton took the view that he was legitimately dismissed.'' Mr. Dunch said the fact two lay tribunals could come to different conclusions based on the same facts highlighted the problems of Bermuda's method of solving labour disputes.

He added, however, the company would "live with the award'' in the interests of laying the matter to rest.

"I am very pleased that the position with respect to the 15 men has been finally resolved once and for all.

"And it's of some comfort to know that the tribunal understood and accepted that it was legally bound by the decision of the Supreme Court of Bermuda.

"If it had done otherwise that would have been the ultimate mockery.''