The Bermuda Recorder

              oaturday march 26 i960 the bermuda recorder page three overnor requests appointment of labour relations officer settlement of a number the week in brief &"&" other outstanding grievances this latter grievance proced ure in particular should prove a valuable aid to creating bet ter understanding in the mr and mrs edgar durrant future hundreds of young ameri can college students began their annual invasion of ber muda this week setting the pace for what promises to be a bumper easter season for the colony tourist arrivals in the coloy over the week-end total led 1,811 aud many hotels and guest houses reported they were filled to capacity as the first batch of college kids wind up their week of activi ties highlighted by beach parties jam sessions etc an other batch arrives tomorrow for a repeat performance field was continued up to tuesday but no trace of the plane has been found through this medium thank the agreement on workmen s compensation fulfils a long-felt need in this dangerous class of work but it is unusual and in contradiction to the interna tionally accepted principles in regard to such compensation that the workers concerned should be expected to pay half ihe cost of the scheme tbeir relatives and friends foi the lovely gifts received on the on w ednesday the house of assembly received a message from his excellency the governor requesting that consideration be given to the appointment of an experienced labour relations officer for the colony included in the message was a copy of the notes made by mr george foggon labour adviser to tho secretary of state for the colonies who paid an official visit to bermuda last october industrial union has played and is playing a considerable part occassion of their wedding air police headquarters at kindley field was the scene of a bloody shooting affray on tuesday night when a 20 year-old airman william m cook from the bronx appar ently went berserk with a 45 ci.libre automatic machine gun and killed two fellow air policemen and wounded m third in the leg a fourth nar rowly escaped by ducking under a ciesk as cook fired a burst where he was sitting cook was subdued when sen an master sgt harman in real hollywood fashion conked him over the head b.i.u complication the bermuda industrial union is a general union with pdivisions for 16 indus trial or occupational groups order • following is the message from the governor and the notes by mr foggon i — this has been done by reduc wedding invitations of these the longshoremen hotel workers and building trade workers are the more im portant the sixteen divisions are partly by craft partly by occupation and partly by in dustry tions from their pay of one pen ny hour the contributions be ing matched by the employers workmen's compensation risks are normally regarded as an employer's responsibility and although this agreement repre sents a considerable advance on the conditions existing be fore it was concluded the nead to include workmen's compen sation in an industrial agree ment underlines the difficulties which must arise in the absence of any general legislative pro visions in the island for work men's compensation on a statu tory basis the governors message bour relations the general prosperity of the island accom panied as it has been by full employment has militated against the growth of workers organisations and in the pre vailing prosperity there have been few labour disputes and receive the governor wishes to draw particular attention to mr foggon's recommendation that the early appointment of a labour specialist is highly de sirable the governor fully en dorses this recommendation and is convinced that the early appointment of such an officer would be of great value and wonld assist in promoting and maintaining good industrial re lations napkins free a coroner's jury deliberat ing 25 minutes on monday reached a verdict that mrs fanny terceira wife of south ampton businessman claude terceira died instantly on dec 17 1959 as a result of injuries received when struck by a car driven by mr egbert ba.scom el somerset the wor j s mcbeath was the presiding coroner at the inquest evi dence was given that mr bas come blacked out at the wheel if his car while returning troiu the hospital where his doctor had sent him to have an x-ray he had been suffer ing from transitory dizziness alter being struck on the head with a beam hook the unity press princess street it would appear by refer ence elsewhere that this is an unduly complicated structure nnd that there is scope in fact ij bermuda for not more than say five unions comprising longshoremen and lightermen building and construction workers hotel workers com raercial and distributive work ers and transport workes \\ ages have been maintained at a high level and the absence of social legislation such as pro vision for health insurance and workmen's compensation has to some extent been met particu larly in recent times by ad hoc schemes introduced by the leading employers who have en tered into suitable arrange ments with the insurance com panies nevertheless only a proportion of the working pop ulation is covered by these ar rangements and there was con siderable evidence that the high cost of medical services and the risks of crippling ex penses arising from either sick oea or industrial accident is a i nt inning anxiety for a large number of bermudians dial 1-3384 with ■ carbim ihe bermuda board of cm aviation has given tentativ approval to eagle airline t operate an evening service be tween bermuda and new york as a 15-day excursion for a fare of 83 round trip in order for the cheap rate to be come operative it is necessary for approval to be granted by the cab iu washington notice in subsequent correspond ence mr foggon has recom mended a very experienced of ficer who would be willing to come to bermuda for an initial period of two years at a salary of 2,000 plus the usual bonus housing and passages the officers and members of loyal mayflower lodge no it is also important in a comparatively small commun ity as in bermuda that the rela tionship between the individu al unions and the central or ganisation tho bermuda in dustrial union ) should be such as to encourage the indi vidual independence of the di visions of the b.i.u the end being to establish between the central organisation and the individual unions a relation ship akin to that which exists between the british t.u.c and its affiliated organisations dock congestion the general congestion on the docks and in the warehouses contribute both to the l w moving of cargoes and the con ditions favouring a high pilfer age rate 9387 i.o.o.f.m.u are hereby summoned and the governor has the hon our to request therefore that the hon house will give fav ourable consideration to the provision of 2,084 salary of 1,667 and 25 per cent of 417 for ten months this year for the purpose of engaging this labour specialist whose post might be called labour rela tions officer required to attend a regular meeting congestion also tends to create an additional accident hazard much of this congestion appears to arise from the ab nce of demurrage charges and the frequent use of th warehouses by importers as fourteen ships of the roya canadian navy slipped thei berths in bermuda early thursday morning and sailed in formation for their home l.ise in halifax terminating their winter exercises daring of the above-named lodge on wed march 30th 1960 at 7.30 p.m tbe search for the a using f-104 lockheed starfighter jet plane which disappeared on friday of last week shortly after taking off from kindley industrial accidents by order of the n.g sis myrtle kennedy whether or not the precon ditions for a comprehensive system of social security as was envisaged at tbe time of the en actment of the social securit sickness and workmen's ac cident benefit act 1949 now exists is a question for a more thorough examination than was possible during a short visit but it is at least for considera tion whether the time is now appropriate for an expert re appraisal of the 1949 act in th light of present-day conditions 1 refer later to the question of industrial accidents continued on page 8 continued on pege 8 secretary effect of prosperity in this connection the nego tiations which were concluded towards the end of 1959 be tween the stevedoring firms and the longshoremen's divi sion of the b.i.u were a val uable indication of how even deep-seated difficulties couli be resolved by negotiation be tween the persons in the in dustry directly concerned mr foggon's notes — since the trade union and trade disputes act was en acted in 1946 the trade union movement in bermuda has not been an important factor in la m mm m w iw h w wu ww l &£*! m^^wm j s a hirsh mfg co these changes in trade union oiganisation should be a mat te i for internal discussion and jigreement inside the bermuda industrial union and are not a matter for legislation modern shelving for a modern store do it yourself or it is generally accepted that it is the responsibility of gov ernments to ensure that appro priate machinery for industrial negotiation is developed and that conciliation and arbitra experience elsewhere has shown clearly that the stabili ty and sense of responsibility shown by trade union organ isations depend ultimately nol or legislation but on the vari ous influences o which such or ganisations are subjected — ■ .... i i • j tho latest complete job gilbert darrell phone 2-0349 tion services are provided wh_\i a settlement of an industrial dispute by voluntary negotia tion cannot be reached the limited degree of trade union organisation the generally high level of prosperity and the sueeess of ad hoc methods of dealing with such labour dis putes as have arisen in the past are factors which have made unnecessary so far any formal intervention by government in the field of labour relations personal political and indus trial among the most impor tant of these factors is the in fluence of employers employer attitudes whatever assistance and guidance may be offered from governmental or other sources at the present stage of trade union development it is prob able that employer attitudes will ultimately be decisive in determining whether the spread of trade union organi sation and trade union mem bership is to come about in a natural and peaceful way or whether each extension of trade union organisation is to become the centre of conflict mere are nowever ■ ber of indications tbat some more considered approach to the general problems of trade union development and labour relations would now be timely there is locally a growing in terest in trade union organisa tion and in this the bermuda hum taey jaw toe adtflivtage from ?*■*:' k^^dtt 8 w w ' \ w7.maa\iaaamaamml , *■ hsw * gosling's it is fair to observe that after an initial period of diffi culty in the bahamas where c nditions are not markedly dissimilar from those in ber muda a considerable change has come over the industrial s ene in recent times and a very high proportion of the working population of the ba hamas is now within the scope of comprehensive collective agreements freely negotiated between the employers and tbe appropriate trade union organisations jfp0 bo 1 f led by 7 bermuda mineral water co with esso extra gasoline phone 1-6151 it seemed to be generally agreed that the conditions of employment of longshoremen and relations between them and the stevedores had been allowed in recent times to de teriorate badly a circumstance which contributed to the stop pages of work during 1!)59 ir . 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