employment status following meetings between management and union officials yesterday afternoon.

Bermuda Public Service Association General Secretary Edward Ball said the meeting with Cable & Wireless management was cordial and constructive but there were a number of issues the company still had to look at.

These included answering the question of how many employees would have to be let go and the nature of their redundancy packages.

Another two or three meetings would probably be held in the future, he estimated.

C&W management have announced that some staff will lose their jobs because the firm has lost about 25 percent of the long distance market to its rival, TeleBermuda International Ltd.

Mr. Ball and a BPSA contingent met with C&W officials including the firm's general manager Colin Little last week also but said yesterday's meeting went better.

Mr. Little confirmed that the meetings were constructive. He said the firm was still working out how many employees would be affected by the cuts and the amount of redundancy pay they would receive.

While BPSA were unhappy that some staff would be let go, continued Mr. Ball, it also understood that the company had to restructure because of the pressure put on it by the introduction of competition and the Telecommunications Act.

After the last meeting, Mr. Ball noted that the BPSA felt C&W employees were being held at ransom because of the deadlock between Government and C&W over the issues of predatory pricing and introduction of competition into the market place.

He said he hoped that the company would come up with the number of employees to be affected soon and the BPSA would work to ensure that redundancy packages were suitable.