hotels were "tricking'' their guests.

And he disagreed hotels were breaking the expired collective bargaining agreement by hiking service charges and keeping the extra money to offset the five percent Hobgood pay award.

Although hotels implemented the arbitrated Hobgood pay award last June, unionised workers refused to accept it.

Mr. Tucker was responding to questions from Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP during the second week of hotel workers' contract talks before the Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board.

Mr. Simmons claimed the collective bargaining agreement, which expired last February, did not give hotels the right to increase service charges to offset workers' wage hikes.

But Mr. Tucker argued the Hobgood award had changed the wording of the old collective bargaining agreement so as to allow hotels to do this.

He said the 1991 Hobgood award stated the five percent pay raise could be generated by increasing payroll and/or increasing the service charge to guests -- as long as the increase is "over and above the increase in the mandatory gratuity/service charge outlined in the award''.

Hotels which did this included the Princess, Southampton Princess, Sonesta Beach, Castle Harbour Marriott, Belmont and Palmetto Bay, Mr. Tucker said.

"Don't you consider this a trick to your guests?,'' Mr. Simmons asked. "Do you consider what you are doing is criminal in the face of Bermuda law?'' "No!,'' fired back Mr. Tucker.

Mr. Simmons then asked Mr. Tucker what hotels told guests when they checked in.

"Do you tell them some of the service charge goes to the workers and some to employers to pay their wages?,'' he asked. "Or do you not tell them anything and just take their money?'' Mr. Tucker said he did not think it was necessary to tell guests exactly where the service charge is going.

"I'm not sure it is a guest's concern,'' he said.

Moving on to the issue of sick leave and pay, Mr. Simmons asked Mr. Tucker if it was true the union had been concerned and cooperated with hoteliers when they alleged employee abuses of sick leave.

Before he could answer the union leader asked if there were sick leave abuses at Sonesta Beach Hotel, of which Mr. Tucker is vice president.

"In my opinion, yes,'' Mr. Tucker replied. However, he could not say to what extent.

Mr. Simmons went on to try and show that not all HEB members had implemented the Hobgood award in any event.

Mr. Tucker agreed they had not, saying the plan to implement it in full fell apart when the BIU reneged on its agreement to accept it.

"As a result of the BIU reneging, individual hotels decided to do what was best for their properties,'' he said, adding they implemented parts of the Hobgood award but rejected others.

Said Mr. Tucker: "We would have implemented the whole award if the BIU had not reneged ... It caused a major split within our ranks.'' Before completing his cross examination of Mr. Tucker, Mr. Simmons sought to find out the HEB's position on retroactivity.

Mr. Tucker admitted it had been the practice in the past to make pay awards retroactive. However, he said as far as the HEB was concerned, the award should only be retroactive to February this year because a pay raise was given for 1991 -- the BIU had refused to accept it.

He added the HEB was seeking a wage freeze for the first year of the new agreement.

Responding to questions from the disputes board on what else hotels are doing to increase revenue in the recession, Mr. Tucker said his hotel was "packaging its rates like never before''.

"We have lots of value-added packages on offer,'' he said, adding value-added was a "fancy'' word for discounting.

HEB lawyer Mr. Stephen Shawe is expected to call his fourth witness today. The BIU has not begun its case yet.