The apex of union power and influence, Sir John Swan's power play for the Premiership, the decline of the UBP and the beginning of the end for Bermuda tourism are among the legacies attributed to one solitary event -- the 1981 general strike.

Now, twenty years later, opinions still sharply differ over the success and long-term effects of the industrial action.

The strike, which at its high point saw possibly 10,000 people flood Bermuda's streets in support of the workers, ended 20 years ago to this day. That anniversary will be marked at a special prayer service today at St. Paul AME church.

Both sides of the dispute -- labour and Government -- will be represented at the service which organisers say will focus on reconciliation, lessons learned and gratitude for the peaceful resolution of the crisis. Sir John Swan will speak from the point of view of the Government of the time, while BIU president Derrick Burgess will speak to the labour point of view.

All in all, the strike lasted 25 days but its size grew dramatically as each day passed. The first to strike were the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's non-medical workers and Government employees.

These two groups with roughly 1,100 workers between them, went on strike at midnight on Sunday April 11, 1981. Leading the strikers was the BIU president Ottiwell Simmons.

Within a week a sympathy strike had been called by taxi operators and two of the Island's hotels had "downed tools'' to join the picket lines. Walkouts followed at 14 of the major hotels, construction workers downed their tools, dock workers, workers from the Provident Bank Union joined in.

But there was much more to come as Island work places shut down in a domino effect -- BTC, BELCO, airport operations, restaurants, supermarkets.

On Monday May 4, 1981, strikers and supporters planned a massive March in Hamilton. "Every worker should join us'' was the union's rallying call. Two major unions added their support -- Bermuda Union of Teachers (ABUT) and Electrical Supply and Trade Union.

The president of the teachers' union at the time was Dale Butler. "A critical point was that a lot of the people affected were our blue collar parents,'' Mr. Butler said of the decision of the teachers to join the strike. "We wanted to show support for our parents as well as the whole union.'' The mass demonstrations remained peaceful -- in part due the role played by clergymen Rev. Larry Lowe and Canon Thomas Nesbitt -- and within days the contracts for both hospital workers and Government employees were successfully negotiated.

The march, said Mr. Simmons last night, was a watershed. "It was a sea of people singing in one voice off the same page and that message was loud and clear and peaceful,'' he said. But the scale of the strike had drawn the world's attention to Bermuda. The New York Times said of the industrial action on May 5: "Many of the Island's white business owners view the strikers, most of whom are black, as having been inexplicably afflicted by an attack of dementia in their willingness to disrupt the tourist trade on which Bermuda's economy depends.'' No strike comes without a cost and tourism took a severe hit as airlines slashed services to the airport thronged by picketers, nine major hotels closed down and seven cruise ships cancelled their visits.

Jim Woolridge was the Tourism Minister of the day and last night he said that neither tourism nor the UBP leadership ever recovered from the strike.

Opinions still divided on 1981 strike legacy 1981 General Strike `It was a sea of people singing in one voice off the same page' And it all might have been avoided, he added, had the Minister of Labour in 1981 -- Sir John Swan -- sent the matter to arbitration rather than allowing the strike to go ahead.

Mr. Woolridge said that following the hangings and associated riots in 1977, the Tourism Ministry went to Herculean lengths to try and turn the industry around -- and succeeded. "1980 was the best year ever,'' Mr. Woolridge said.

"We had 609,000 tourists who spend $651 million. But 1981 promised to be an even better year.'' Until the strike hit.

Mr. Woolridge explained that as both the striking unions -- hospital workers and garbage collectors -- fell under essential services legislation, they had to file a 21-day strike notice and could have been sent to mandatory arbitration.

But, Mr. Woolridge said, acting as Minister for Labour and Immigration, Sir John Swan elected not to send it to arbitration, the strike went ahead and tourism received a deadly blow.

"Everybody left. Over 10,000 people left and a lot of them demanded refunds,'' said Mr. Woolridge. "I said at the time it was the beginning of a bad reputation for Bermuda that would be hard to shake. I still think we're suffering the effects of it today.'' But Mr. Simmons rejected the notion that the strike dealt a death blow to tourism yesterday. "That's a silly statement,'' he said. "It goes to show that the Government didn't have a grasp on the situation then and they still don't now.'' Dr. Clarence James, a Cabinet member in 1981, told The Royal Gazette that Cabinet's impression during the strike was that the ultimate goal of the action was to bring down the Government.

Government had Police and Regiment on alert and there were incidents where heavily armed riot teams turned up at both the Parliament and the legislature.

Politically, no one could have been more affected by the strike than the Premier of the day, Sir David Gibbons. Within a year he would resign as Premier. And Sir John Swan stepped quickly into his empty leadership shoes.

"I think Sir David Gibbons was probably extremely demoralised,'' said Mr.

Butler. And in terms of the internal machinations of Government, Mr. Woolridge said the strike happened because a power play was being made for leadership.

"It was done because of leadership,'' he said. "The Labour Minister (Sir John Swan) was looking to become the new leader and thought if he didn't refer the dispute to arbitration it would put him in better light.'' Mr. Woolridge said he believes the handling of the strike was an element in the eventual loss of Government for the UBP after 30 years. "The UBP were riding high up till then,'' he said. "I think it's one of the reasons we weren't in a position to win in 1998.'' But Dr. James rejected the notion that the strike contributed to the undoing of the UBP or Sir David Gibbons.

"Government survived, obviously, for (nearly 20) years since that time so it didn't affect Government that much,'' said Dr. James. What the strike did do, according to Mr. Simmons, was pave the way for worker solidarity and represent the high point of the labour movement.

The benefits achieved by the strike are still visible today, he added.

"Workers are certainly much better off today,'' said Mr. Simmons. "The strike gave them self-confidence and self-esteem. It made them feel the size they should feel. They lost their fear and became more courageous and bold.'' Not everyone agrees however. "I don't think in the long run the country benefitted from the strike. I get the impression that workers, when it was over, found it wasn't really worth it,'' said Dr. James.

Twenty years, it seems, can not definitively close a chapter in the flowing history of ever changing Bermuda.

The prayer service in remembrance of the strike will be held between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. today at St. Paul's AME church in Hamilton. In addition to Mr.

Burgess and Sir John, the event will include Bishop Ewen Ratteray, Rev. Larry Lowe, Salvation Army Commandant Major Hale, Father Pat Aiello as well as representatives from other faiths.

In addition there will be musical performances by LeYoni Junos, Sondra Choudhury and the students of Saltus Grammar School.