the hotels contract dispute this afternoon, after days of stop-and -startarguing over preliminary matters.

But it became clear that the board has little chance of reaching a conclusion before the end of the summer. Only nine days of hearings have been scheduled between now and August 3.

In the past, hearings into hotel contract disputes have taken months and there is nothing to suggest these will be different. The old contract expired in February last year, and the two sides started negotiating months before then.

Yesterday, the two sides argued about the meeting schedule, whether hoteliers should pay the wages of the union negotiating team, and whether the Press and public should be allowed to attend.

By the end of the day, the only issue resolved was that the public and Press should be allowed to attend but, like the courts of law, television cameras and radio microphones would not be allowed.

Board chairman Prof. Ronald Haughton said this rule will apply in future Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board hearings as well.

The Hotel Employers of Bermuda had argued the hearings should be held behind closed doors.

Public meetings would lead to public posturing by the participants, HEB lawyer Mr. Stephen Shawe told the board. And "negative'' statements would be reported and disseminated in Bermuda and abroad, further hurting a tourism industry that is already suffering.

Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons MP wanted open meetings, and was unhappy that television and radio would be barred.

The BIU and the HEB also clashed over payments for the union's negotiating team.

The old expired collective agreement allowed for up to seven union members to be paid while representing their colleagues in labour negotiations. Yesterday, the HEB said it would pay for no union members to attend, while the BIU said employers should cover 19 people.

Mr. Shawe said the HEB felt no obligation to abide by the old collective agreement. The only reason the HEB was present at all, he said, was because the law required it.

The whole matter would have been settled long ago, if the BIU had not broken its word and refused to abide by last year's Hobgood arbitration award, he said.

"We think the added burden of being here should never have occurred. We are here only because the agreement that was reached has been withdrawn....We are in no position to be paying people for unproductive time. If they want a leave of absence, it will be granted.'' But Mr. Simmons said hotels have traditionally paid workers when they are called away for contract negotiations.

The HEB team is made up of well-paid men whose pay is not cut for time spent in negotiations. The hotel workers are nearly destitute, he said, and cannot afford to go without pay.

In the end, the HEB accepted a suggested compromise of seven paid workers for the BIU team, but the BIU objected.

The issue will now be added to others that will be discussed as part of the contract hearings.